Some With Arrows, Some With Traps II
by refreshingbeverage
Summary: A sequel, takes place two weeks after the first book. Rick and Horatio are back in Miami, trying to make their relationship work in the new setting. Rated M for language, thematic elements, and sexual content.
1. Monday

Hello and welcome to the re-opening of SWASWT. I really needed that break, and now that midterms are over, my schedule is far less hectic. Thanks for sticking around.

I would like to thank everyone who has added me to their subscription lists and/or have favorited my stories/me.

You guys need to vote on the poll I have posted on my profile. Right now I have an even split (of 1 to 1) regarding what should get priority in my postings. Don't think that I'm only going to be focusing on seasonal stuff and the epics, because I have been attacked by plot bunnies and I plan on giving them all equal attention. I wouldn't mind posting on my Wednesday/Saturday schedule, but as of right now, I'm going to just post on Saturdays so that deadlines don't sneak up on me.

Don't worry, you guys are going to be hit over the head with ficlets, starting Sunday. But if you just read for the epics… yeah, this will take a wee bit longer. But if I blow through SWASWT II, then I might miss a few major deadlines I set up for myself down the road.

(I love all of you)

***

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Some With Arrows, Some With Traps **

**II**

**Chapter One: Monday**

An oddly brisk Miami breeze blew through the open window in Rick Stetler's bedroom, making the sheer white curtains billow in its wake. The gust rolled through the small room, finally breaking against Rick's bare back.

The IAB sergeant's eyes slowly drifted open, blinking in his morning haze. He rolled onto his back, relaxing and listening to the birds in the tree near his window, their song unchanged since he first laid his eyes upon Miami. He moaned and sighed softly as another breeze wrapped itself around him.

"Good morning, Miami! This is John, Bo, Jim, Bryan and Todd in the morning!" the radio screamed, making Rick startle.

Rick flipped over onto his stomach, reaching across the bed and slamming his palm down on the radio alarm clock, silencing it. Rick's mood tempered off as his eyes fell upon the small photograph of his lover that he kept on his nightstand next to the clock. Some days it felt like it was the only face that smiled at him and gave him a look of kindness and understanding. It wasn't easy being in IAB, he always felt like he was the target of office conspiracies; he would think himself paranoid if he didn't already know that his fears were justified. Still, he smiled back at the photograph.

"Good morning, Horatio," he whispered to the image of the redheaded lieutenant behind the glass.

***

As soon as Rick walked into the ground floor of the Miami-Dade Police Department, he could feel dozens of eyes upon him. The room's usual chatter died down to a soft mumble as people noticed him.

_Why does everyone always do that?_ Rick thought to himself, _they're only making themselves look suspicious. Mondays are the worst, everyone wants to share their weekend with everyone but me._

He looked around nervously, at the small clusters of people around him. Nobody knew it, but Rick could tell when people were fantasizing about various sharp objects flying through the air and impaling him. He could also tell when people were imagining a gunman running into the room and firing several rounds into his head. About every conceivable way that someone could die someone has pictured happening to him and he knew it. This would stop bothering him so much if everyone didn't have a slight smile on their faces when he looked at them.

He approached the front desk, placing his briefcase at his feet. Liz half-heatedly lifted her eyes from her morning crossword. She took a bite of her bagel and scribbled in a word before she spoke to him.

"May I help you, Sergeant Stetler?" She mumbled, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Erm… yeah," Rick stuttered, "Can I have my messages from this weekend?"

_And can you stop fantasizing about me spontaneously combusting?_

Without a nod or a sound, Liz pulled out two files from under the counter and handed them to him.

"Thank you, Liz," he said, giving her a polite little nod.

She had already buried herself in her crossword and breakfast. She gave an affirming grunt in response. Rick walked away sadly, wishing that she would have seen the polite little nod he had given her. Years ago people used to at least give him a chance, but not anymore.

He started paging though the reports as he walked to the elevators; they were both about some minor players in the police department, small-time officers. He bit his lip; somebody could be fired for what was in the reports. And he, Rick, would be blamed for it.

"I managed to clear my father's name," a southern drawl behind him said, "no thanks to you".

"Hi, Calleigh," Rick said tiredly as he turned to face her.

"If things were up to you, my father would be in jail right now!" she snapped.

"I'm just saying," Rick explained as he boarded the elevator with her, "that it would be best for the department to be a little more prudent when it comes to family matters".

"And just what is that supposed to mean?!"

"I mean, a court may see your involvement as a conflict of interests".

"I am perfectly competent and capable of performing my duties, Rick Stetler!"

"We know that, but a jury wouldn't".

"My father will only be in a courtroom if he is _defending_ someone".

"You mean: 'helping criminals back out onto the streets'?" Rick babbled.

Ding. Second floor: CSI.

"Oh my God! You are such a prick!" Calleigh yelled at Rick as she stormed off to ballistics.

Rick stepped off the elevator, watching Natalia run after Calleigh, a look of concern on her face. He looked around, Eric glared at him and Ryan pretended not to notice. Rick would have to admit: his brain doesn't have much of a filter before his coffee.

Coffee: the reason why he stopped at CSI instead of going all the way up to IAB. CSI had the best coffee machines he had ever encountered. He tried to draw as little attention to himself as possible as he scampered down the hall to the break room.

_Ahhh… coffee: sweet giver of life_, Rick thought as he approached the machine_, I can think of no greater morning delight… wait… let me rephrase that: I can think of no greater morning delight that doesn't necessarily have to involve Horatio. Oh wondrous caffeine, you have given so much for me. What have I to give to you? Three quarters is all I must sacrifice, but I would give you the sky. Oh thank you for the gifts you bestow upon me in my hours of need and-_

"-Jesus Christ," said a voice behind Rick.

_-and why do people enjoy sneaking up behind me?_

"Good morning Valera," Rick smiled as he removed his coffee from the machine, "how are you?"

"Did you have to buy _another_ hideous tie?" she giggled.

Rick looked down at his light and dark pink paisley motif tie. The paisley motif always reminded him of his youth, when he was stuck in rural Oklahoma during the political movements of the 60's. Although in his mind he was always part of the protests and rallies. In those days he was still an idealist.

"What's wrong with it?" he murmured, turning the tie in his hands.

She took a bite of the apple she was carrying around, trying to suppress a laugh. Shaking her head she grinned and strolled out of the break room, brushing against Horatio on her way out. Rick's face lit up as he laid his eyes upon the lieutenant.

"Hey Horatio, do _you_ think my tie is hideous? Valera seems to be positive that-"

"-is there some sort of sick pleasure you get out of harassing my lab, Stetler?"

Rick's smile quickly faded as he noticed he was in trouble. Horatio's brilliant blue eyes glared at him with an unrivaled intensity that made Rick cower slightly.

"Join me in my office," Horatio ordered, turning his heel and expecting Rick to follow him.

Judging eyes peered at him from behind the glass walls of every lab of CSI as Rick timidly followed Horatio to his office (which was also made of glass) at the end of the hall. Horatio opened the door for Rick, leading him inside.

"Sorry about that," Horatio said, softening his tone, "but I promised Calleigh that I would give you a good talking to. Now, what exactly did you say about her father?"

"Oh…that," Rick groaned, rolling his eyes and taking a long sip of coffee; still dodging the issue.

"Rick," Horatio said sternly, tapping his foot impatiently, "what did you say?"

"Something stupid and insensitive…?" Rick guessed, flashing Horatio a grin.

"You can't just say whatever you want to my team because you know that I'm not going to threaten you now," Horatio sighed.

Stetler had to admit that he had been taking a bit of advantage of his new found romance with Horatio. He had been shooting his mouth off at Calleigh and Natalia quite a bit; they have always pissed him off the most. But he had held himself back slightly because he was afraid that Eric would catch him off hours and pummel him one day.

"She… she started it," Rick quietly stuttered.

"Rick".

"She's the one who is putting the department's name on the line!" Stetler exploded, making Horatio jump slightly, "I'm trying to protect us! This would be your responsibility if you didn't already have to be part of every investigation because God forbid you possibly take a day off. But no, what would your sad and incompetent team do without you? I can't believe these people! They have absolutely no common sense!"

"Stetler!"

Rick calmed down, turning his face away from Horatio.

"I know you're frustrated," Horatio said gently, "and that people give you a lot of crap for being in IAB. It's not your fault".

"I'm sorry," Rick gasped quietly.

"It's okay. She should be over it in about a half hour".

Rick nodded. He leaned against Horatio's desk, not wanting to leave. He watched the light play against the glass walls, some acting like prisms. Horatio's office was very calming; sometimes Rick believed that he subconsciously got himself in trouble because he loved Horatio's office so much. Rick's office didn't have the glass walls, making him feel a little boxed in, despite the bay windows. That and he left it pretty cluttered. Plus, his office didn't have Horatio in it.

"Are you feeling better now?" Horatio whispered, approaching Rick.

The IAB sergeant looked up into his love's shining azure eyes. The sun danced over his body, making his crimson hair almost glow with a God-like light. His fine Italian suit hung on his form, clutching his body just so. Horatio's moist lips formed into a smile that was so slight and gentle.

Rick couldn't stand it anymore; he leaned in towards the redhead. He needed to taste his lover's mouth so desperately. Horatio quickly shoved Rick back against the desk before he became overwhelmed as well. Stetler looked back at him longingly.

"I'm sorry," Horatio started, "I want it too. But… my office… glass… get out now".

Rick nodded obediently, quickly stumbling out. Horatio rested his body against the desk, watching as Rick quickly rushed to the elevator to get up to the third floor. His hand brushed against something soft and warm, he turned his blue eyes to examine it. It was Rick's Styrofoam coffee cup; Horatio brought it to his lips, tasting Rick's mouth on the rim. He hummed contentedly into the beverage, impatient for Tuesday's night to come. That will be when they can truly be together.


	2. Dinner

Thank you for the reviews daxy and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews wdlwbt and tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Two: Dinner**

The clock mounted on the wall ticked ever onwards as Rick ran around his bedroom, clad only in his black silk boxers. He turned his head and checked the time, it was 5:48; same as it was when he checked it ten seconds ago. Clothes were flying to the floor in small piles as Rick desperately tried to figure out what to wear. He had a white silk pair of boxers laid out on the bed in case he decided to pull out his white suit.

Rick terribly needed to calm down; Horatio would be at his front door to pick him up in about ten minutes. He now understood why his older sister used to pick out her outfit the day before the date. But this had never happened to him before.

Finally, Rick pulled on his black suit with the black button down shirt and a white tie. He likes black, it's very slimming. The piles of clothes were picked up and shoved into the bottom of the closet. Rick heard the doorbell sound as he was trying to fasten his watch, put on some cologne, his socks, and his shoes at the same time. He caught a glance of himself in the mirror at the foot of the stairs, lightly mussing up his hair and wishing that Horatio would have bothered to answer the question about his ties that he posed earlier. With as much dignity he could muster up, Stetler opened the door.

Horatio stood just outside the door, looking very timid. This was the first time they had the chance to be so close in about a month, and that was when their relationship started up. Neither of them had yet gotten the chance to see each other's homes. The redhead wore a slightly nicer black suit than what he usually wore to work, his shoes polished.

"Y-y-you ready to go?" Horatio blushed as he noticed he was stuttering slightly.

Rick nodded, he couldn't speak. He was so taken by Horatio's stunning figure, whose vulnerable side was beginning to dominate his features. Rick quickly pocketed his keys from the side table's key dish and closed the door.

"So…erm… where are we going again?"

"Pakongac's Italian Restaurant," Horatio smiled, leading Rick to his car.

Rick cocked his head as he looked over the car, the early sunset shining off of its sleek black finish. He walked around to the passenger's door, gently letting his fingers run over the three pointed star that hung on the grill. The soft top was retracted, letting the soft Miami breeze gently roll over the leather seats.

"Are you okay Rick?" Horatio asked.

Shaking himself out of a brief daze, Rick noticed that he must have spent a solid three minutes playing with the currently off entertainment system and ghosting his hands over the wood trim. He turned his attention back to Horatio, slightly embarrassed.

"I never imagined you in anything but a Hummer," Rick blushed.

Horatio smiled and nodded, "I was never able to have a car until I came to Miami, so I went all out and bought a Mercedes Benz convertible. This is my second, I held on to that first one for as long as I could though".

"It looks new".

"I just got it a few months ago".

Horatio turned the ignition, the built in GPS sprang to life and Aerosmith started pouring from the speakers. He placed his hand on the gear shift, ready to pull out of the driveway; but Rick stopped him.

"We're not out of Miami yet," Rick whispered, Horatio gave him a puzzled look, "put the top back up".

Horatio nodded, it was very important that the two didn't draw attention to themselves so long as they were in Miami-Dade county. The last thing they needed was to be seen by someone who knew who they were. Horatio made sure of this at work, but didn't really put as much thought into how to play the part during his off hours as Rick did. If they were caught, some criminals might get back on the streets; but on a more personal note: Stetler could lose his job.

The canopy spread over the two men as they pulled out of the polished suburb Rick called home and vanished into the blur of the freeway.

***

"Nobody is trying to kill you," Horatio chucked, nodding to the busboy who took their plates.

Pakongac's is a relatively small restaurant just outside of Marco Island, well over an hour's drive from Miami. Horatio aided Rory Pakongac when his daughter was kidnapped, managing to get her back home safely. The restaurant has a separate section for small private parties; the room is well hidden but often talked about. It is a dimly lit circular chamber, the circumference holding section after section of U-shaped booths on an elevated platform. A small table was put in the middle of each U, ideal for private business or couples. Each booth was walled off from the others and had heavy velvet curtains that could be drawn at the customer's whim. Rory had a similar style to his larger restaurant when he lived in Miami, but he needed to get away from the big city life and focus on his family.

"I didn't say they were _trying_ to kill me," Rick corrected, playing with the candle on the table, "I said that they _want_ to kill me".

"You're just paranoid," Horatio smiled, pulling out the dessert menu.

"I'm not paranoid! I can see that they are picturing me dying in their heads .Then they smile like my life is some sort of sick game to them".

"Okay, you're not paranoid," Horatio grinned, "you're crazy".

"You're not helping, H".

"Sorry, keep going".

"I mean, I can't help it if people compromise evidence and get emotionally involved in cases. I'm not making them do it because I 'want them off the force' or some strange outside reason of my own. But someone has to be the responsible adult in these situations. How could these idiots actually believe that they are 'serving and protecting' the people of Miami when they have some bizarre under-the-table thing going on? If there's anything in this world I hate more than ignorance, it's hypocrisy. My entire life I have worked against such conspiracy and now when I am able to actually put a stop to it _I_ become 'the man'?! It's fucking ridiculous. I've stopped asking for sympathy and have started begging for just some common sense. Yes, I know according to the same principle that we aren't supposed to be together. Yes I see the irony in that. But I never let it get in the way of my casework and neither do you. You know why? Because we, unlike so many, have a sense of responsibility".

Rick stopped for breath, sighing heavily. Horatio reached across the table and started gently stroking his lover's hand. Stetler had spent a good portion of the evening ranting about how he was treated as IAB sergeant. But then, before Horatio, Rick didn't have anyone to talk to; much less sit and listen to him.

"Nobody even talks to me as a human being anymore in the lab and downstairs," Rick grumbled, resting his cheek on his palm, "And they just don't say anything at IAB… this is worse than high school".

"Rick," Horatio said somewhat sternly, "_nothing_ is worse than high school".

"Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little. But you know what I mean".

The two men stopped, each in silent thought. Rick stayed quiet as their waiter came by and Horatio ordered them a slice of chocolate cake. His jaw was sore and his throat ached from talking all evening, he was usually pretty quiet. After a moment or two he finally looked up at Horatio.

"Thanks for putting up with me tonight," he said hoarsely.

"It's been a pleasure," Horatio smiled, frankly he was just happy to be spending some time with Rick.

"I won't go off on a tangent next time, I promise".

"You've had a lot on your mind. I understand. You shouldn't keep everything bottled up like I do; it really can dig under your skin if you can't emote every now and again. I see why you have recommended me seeing a psychologist so many times".

Rick nodded, resting his chin on the table.

"I mean, after… after what happened to my parents I didn't really talk much. I turned to religion eventually-".

"-how'd that work out for ya'?" Rick couldn't help but to interrupt, he and organized religion never seemed to get along.

"Pretty poorly, but it wasn't until my brother died that I realized that I was only hanging onto it because of fear. I… I have taken a lot of lives in the line of duty," Horatio admitted quietly.

Rick sat back up; he had never really seen Horatio ashamed of himself before. He had always seemed so confident. So many saw it as taking a murderer off the streets, but Horatio always felt like he was taking a son away from a mother. At times he wished that he wasn't so quick to act with his gun, but at the same time he knew that if he didn't that he would have died years ago.

"I couldn't help but to think," Horatio continued, "that when I die that I would have to answer to all the lives I had taken. And in the end I would seen in the same light as the killers I have gunned down. I thought that if I could just repent for all the families I must have broken apart that things could be different. But in the back of my mind I felt that it wouldn't matter".

Horatio picked up his water and took a sip from it; Rick sat there waiting for more.

"So what'd you do?" Rick asked, his light brown eyes shimmering with curiosity.

"Something I should have done a long time ago," Horatio smiled, "I stopped believing in Hell".

Rick couldn't help but to smile sweetly at Horatio, he seemed so wise and yet so simple.

"I came to realize that I was running away and was basing religion on my own fears. It wasn't until Ray died that I realized that religion is supposed to comfort people, not judge them. I just wish I could have seen that sooner".

"You had a lot on your mind and thought that finding clarity would be equally as complicated. It wasn't until you were pushed past your limit that you learned that the best solutions are sometimes the simplest," Rick explained.

"Rick," Horatio smiled, "For the longest time you have been telling me to speak to the psychologist. You knew that all I needed was to talk to you. How long have you had everything sorted out for me?"

"I've been trying to figure you out for years," Rick laughed, "I can just get a little philosophical at times. Besides, I believe that our conversations mean a lot more now than they would have then".

Horatio and Rick fell into a comfortable silence as they got lost in one another's eyes. The redhead was the first to break away, thankful for the candlelight to hide the blush that spread over his cheeks. He looked so fragile and timid in such moments, Rick just wanted to wrap his arms around him and hold him forever.

Their silent romance was interrupted by their waiter placing a large slice of cake down between them. Horatio paid and thanked the waiter.

"Ahh, chocolate cake," Horatio chattered, "Can you think of a better dessert?"

"Yes," Rick smirked, closing the velvet drapes.


	3. Dessert

Thank you for the reviews madysoncurrier and daxy (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Three: Dessert**

Stetler reached across the table, taking Horatio's hand. He pulled his lover gently over to him so they could sit and cuddle by the glow of candlelight. For the first time in what felt like years, their lips met. Rick ran his tongue over Horatio's lower lip and the redhead moaned as he opened his mouth for his lover, who traced and re-learned every crevasse. Horatio wrapped his arms around Rick, bringing their chests so close together that he could feel Rick's heart beat.

Horatio broke away, gasping for breath as he felt Rick's fingers tangle in his soft red hair. They rested their foreheads together, breathing heavily. Horatio lifted his fork, digging it into the cake and feeding Rick. The IAB sergeant closed his eyes and threw back his head letting the dark chocolate roll over his tongue, humming happily.

They took turns feeding each other, occasionally tasting chocolate off of the other's lips. The lieutenant's hands wandered down to growing bulge in Rick's pants. Rick could feel his heart quicken as Horatio fondled him ever so slightly. Horatio loosened his lover's tie and unbuttoned half of his shirt, his lips pressing against Rick's chest as their bodies relaxed into the secluded booth. Horatio let Rick swing his leg over him, the brunette facing him on his lap.

"This doesn't hurt you, does it?" Rick asked the man sitting beneath him.

"Not at all," Horatio whispered as he pulled Rick into another kiss.

Rick stroked his lover's hair, pulling off Horatio's tie and opening his shirt. The position was awkward for several reasons. First of all, Rick was taller than Horatio, so to kiss him meant bending at a sharp and uncomfortable angle. In addition to this, the table was digging into the small of his back, but he tried not to let Horatio on to this. That and the fact that it wasn't the most comfortable position for him to put his straining cock in.

Horatio reached down and drew the zipper of Rick's pants down over his hardness. He dug his long, pale fingers through the folds of the black silk, wrapping them around his lover's shaft. Rick gasped, suddenly changing his mind and deciding that this was a perfectly fine position to be in. But still…

"Horatio, no. Not here," He managed to stutter out before a soft whimper.

"No, 'here' is perfectly fine," Horatio said, giving Rick's cock slow and gentle strokes.

"They'll hear us".

"That will only be a possibility if you keep talking, Rick," Horatio smirked as he ran a fingertip up Rick's pulsating vein.

"Stop," Rick whimpered as he started to feel pressure build inside of him.

"Why?"

"I'm going to cum if you don't".

"That's a horrible reason to stop," Horatio purred, rubbing the pre-cum all over Rick's tip.

"But… but…"

"Stop worrying about clean up and enjoy the fact that I'm jacking you off".

"I didn't say I wasn't enjoying it," Rick babbled as higher thought began to shut down.

Horatio watched as Rick's head rolled back and his breath grew labored. He changed the speed of his strokes, making Stetler tremble. Rick grabbed onto the edge of the table, bracing himself as he thrust wildly into the lieutenant's hand.

Horatio reached down to open his pants and lightly rub his own arousal as Rick's trusts grew erratic and his body tensed up. Quickly, Horatio shoved Rick onto the table and took the sergeant's leaking cock in his warm and wet mouth. Rick had to bite his lip to keep from screaming as he came down Horatio's throat.

After a few moments of heavy breathing and stroking Horatio's hair Rick finally looked down, seeing his lover lick the last of him clean. Horatio let Rick's spent cock slide out of his mouth, tucked him in, and zipped him up. Without hesitation, Rick got off the table and then slid off the booth, falling to his knees between Horatio's legs.

The redhead was incredibly stiff, his heart raced with passion; he had already placed a hand on the back of Rick's neck, lightly pulling his mouth towards his arousal. Rick leaned forward, gently kissing and suckling on the tip of the lieutenant's hardness.

"Come on, Rick, you can give me more than that," Horatio said roughly, trusting into Stetler's mouth.

Rick pulled away, looking up at his lover's face. A tone of hostility was in Horatio's voice and was displayed in his expression. His eyes were closed tightly; his mind was definitely elsewhere, although exactly where remained a mystery to Rick. How long had Horatio been using sex as a sort of escape? His relationship with the lieutenant was too young for Rick to find the answer. All he knew is that he had never seen Horatio like this before.

"Horatio?" he whispered gently.

"You know what I want. Give it to me," the redhead hissed as he tugged on Rick's hair.

Stetler reached up, tenderly stroking the side of Horatio's face. Horatio's eyes drifted open and he looked down at Rick, kneeling before him and looking concerned. He released Rick's hair and simply cradled his head. Stetler watched Horatio sigh and his expression soften, yet Rick was still concerned.

"Please, Rick," Horatio whispered, his tone loving again.

The brunette made a mental note to delve into this area of Horatio's character; but as for now there was business to attend to. He ran his tongue up and down the length of Horatio's aching cock, burying himself in his lover's crotch. Horatio bit back a moan, the desire for contact finally being fulfilled. It didn't take him long before he flew over the edge, Rick swallowing everything Horatio gave him.

Rick climbed out from under the table and sat down next to his lover, cuddling him. Horatio kissed Rick's neck gently, nuzzling and stroking him. Rick cuddled back, but he couldn't shake the feeling of concern that Horatio had laid upon his mind.

"Are you alright, H?" Rick whispered.

"Of course I'm alright," Horatio said, kissing Rick's neck again.

"You can tell me if you're not feeling well, you know".

"I am perfectly fine. You, however, worry too much," Horatio smiled, patting Rick playfully.

Rick smiled back, although in his heart he was still slightly concerned. He leaned in and kissed Horatio again.

"We had better get going," Rick said quietly as he nuzzled Horatio's neck, "it's getting late and home is still over an hour away".

Horatio nodded and the two of them started making each other presentable. As they parted the curtains they looked around the room nervously, hoping that nobody had heard them. The room was empty and seeing as their bill was already paid, the two quietly walked out.

***

It was about forty-five minutes into the drive; they were on the highway and flying though the everglades. Horatio had turned the music to soft jazz and sat in silence as Rick rested against the window, peacefully asleep.

The Who started playing from Horatio's pocket. He quickly snatched up the phone and answered it before it could wake Rick up.

"Hello?" Horatio whispered into the phone, looking over to make sure his lover was still asleep.

"Hi, H? This is Ryan".

"Mr. Wolfe," the lieutenant raised his eyebrows, "where are you?"

"I'm still at the lab. Why are you whispering?"

"I'm next to someone who is sleeping," no point in lying there, "But what are you still doing at the lab?"

"Well, in the last few minutes of day shift I got an idea that I have decided to delve into. You see, I don't think Amanda killed Karl".

"I thought that we already had conclusive evidence that she did?"

"We thought so, but I'm looking at the stab wound and it's pretty deep, I don't think that Amanda could have done that".

"Amada is an exception to the women-tend-to-make-shallower-stab-marks rule because she is a rock climbing instructor".

"I know, H, but listen. I think that she may have sprained her arm before the murder. I ran some tests on her clothing and I had accounting look into her. I think she may have been recovering from a sprained shoulder".

"If she was why didn't she mention it to our detectives?"

"Because it must have happened at work and she was given hush money. The Palm Street Fitness Centre has had problems with injured employees in the past, lots of problems. If they had any more the Board of Safety Inspection may have to close them down. The centre is owned by Amanda's brother, whose wife is an MD who specializes in herbal medicines. Traces of turmeric, lime, and salt were found on the right strap of her tank top; they are traditionally used to treat sprains".

"So who is responsible for Karl's death?"

"His current girlfriend, Lisa".

"What about the stab wound? Lisa doesn't have a physically strenuous job".

"I know, but she has purchased a notably large amount of baseball equipment and memorabilia. I would be shocked if she doesn't slip off to the batting cages in her spare time. Now, I've never seen her pitch, but I am willing to bet that she has more upper body strength than she's letting on".

"Well done, Ryan. Now go to bed and have Eric look it over in the morning".

"But H-"

"-I'm sure your accusation is correct, but I think it best if there is a second opinion on everything that is done during overtime. That has been my stance since the beginning, you know that".

"Yes lieutenant," Ryan grumbled, obviously upset.

"I'm sorry Ryan, that's just how things are. Go to bed, you must be very tired".

"I guess I could use some sleep. I'll talk to you later, H. Oh, and send my best to the lucky lady you're spending the night with".

"What?" then Horatio remembered that he mentioned someone was sleeping next to him, "Oh sure. I'll talk to you later".

He hung up as Ryan bid him farewell. And he began to wonder, as he often found himself to do, how long he was going to be able to keep his sexuality a secret from the lab. He wasn't ashamed of being bi, but he knew that some people would think that he should feel quite differently.


	4. Friday

Thanks for the reviews daxy and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thanks for the reviews lausi_gm, tbsavafob6, and ktrisha (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Four: Friday**

Rick stepped into the lobby of the MD-PD, about an hour later than usual. His entrance was hardly noticed, nobody saying a word or really looking at him. This was fine with him, it was better than Monday. That and he didn't really want Horatio to know that he had taken a few hours off on Wednesday to get tested for various STDs; the results of which he had just picked up, making him late for work.

He was clean, thank God, but Horatio's actions still concerned him. He was afraid that Horatio may have slept around a few times to relieve some stress. He wasn't quite sure how often he did this or if he even did at all. Either way, he knew he had to confront him about it at some point. Maybe he was just paranoid, but that wasn't about to stop him from opening his own investigation into every woman Horatio had gotten close to over the past several years, excluding Marisol and Yelina. Luckily, he had already made note of them as they popped up; there was a list in Horatio's file.

Stepping onto the elevator Rick opened his briefcase and placed his STD test results in one of its pockets. He sighed as he thought of Horatio.

_How the hell can I be subtle about this? _Rick pondered, _I mean, I can't just go up and ask him; it would seem like I'm just suspicious. But it would be even worse if I tell him that I'm basing by questions on the findings of an investigation I have been running behind both his and the department's back. I'm pretty sure he's clean, that or else I just have been incredibly lucky. Either way, I'm going to have to get an answer out of him before we have relations again._

Ding. Third floor: Internal Affairs.

"Hi, Molly," Stetler mumbled, tossing the files Liz had handed him on her desk, "can you take care of these for me?"

"I will if you tell me what the hell has kept you so occupied the last two days," she said darkly.

Rick smirked at her. Molly had always been Rick's assistant, but he started off as a 'runner', bringing cases up from the Police department and evidence from out of its locker. Rick had always been a believer in "if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself", and so was a little irritated with her at first and used her mainly as a gopher. Over a few months she has become a good friend of his and a truly functioning member of IAB. He usually dumps small cop investigations on her while he handles the science of the CSI cases.

"I can't tell you that because as of right now I'm still working on a hunch," Rick smiled.

"You're abusing your powers again, aren't you? Monica won't be happy to hear about that".

"Monica," Rick echoed, rolling his eyes at the name of his superior, "Monica can go fuck the wide end of a rake for all I care".

Molly's gaze shifted off of Rick to some point behind him. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped agape slightly. She tensed up and her eyebrows arched. Rick grew deathly pale, she was right behind him, wasn't she? Nervously he turned his head, expecting the worse. His mind began to scramble for an explanation for his behavior.

Finally he turned around, still without an excuse; but only to notice that nobody was there. His terror turned to anger as he heard Molly burst out laughing behind him. He spun the rest of the way around and glared at her, crossing his arms over his chest. She didn't notice; she was too busy being doubled over in laughter.

"I guess I deserved that," Rick sighed, giving up on the idea of sending her on a guilt trip.

Molly smiled and nodded happily. "You should have seen you just then," she giggled.

"Yes," Rick said dryly in a last ditch attempt to ruin her fun, "very amusing. I'll be in my office, if someone requires me I expect to be paged. I will go to them. Don't send anyone in".

She nodded again and got started on sorting out the files Rick had dropped in her lap. It wasn't until Stetler had rounded the corner that she remembered that someone dropped by earlier. Oh well, she'll bring it up later.

***

Rick's office was at the end of the hall, it was a spacious corner office with large windows, several bookshelves and a couch. It wasn't nearly as glamorous as Horatio's but it functioned quite well, and that was all Rick could want. He entered the office and flipped on the light.

"Hello gorgeous," spoke a familiar voice behind him.

Horatio watched Rick jump about a foot in the air. He closed and locked the office door behind them as he eyed up Rick hungrily.

"Jesus Christ, Horatio! You scared the hell out of me!"

"My my my… you _are_ really high strung, aren't you?"

"Of course I am!" Rick snapped, "How long have you been waiting here in the dark anyways?"

"About fifteen minutes. Where have you been?"

"I just got here," Rick said quickly, trying to evade the question.

Horatio sensed an uneasiness about Rick, "are you okay?"

Rick turned his eyes from Horatio. He didn't know if he was ready to share what was really on his mind. After all, maybe he was worried over nothing. Horatio didn't really seem to have any one night stands with anyone since Hurricane Anthony. But one account was enough to make Rick worry.

"What's on your mind, love," Horatio cooed seductively, "I bet I can make it all better".

He pulled Rick away from the windows and kissed him deeply, backing away and handing the control over to Stetler. As much as the current situation was bothering him, Rick couldn't keep himself from Horatio's soft and loving lips. He pinned Horatio against the wall and began swirling his tongue around the redhead's. Horatio moaned and dug his arousal into Rick's thigh, begging for more.

"Actually," Rick sighed, breaking away from Horatio's lips, "there is something I need to ask you".

"What's that?" Horatio asked as he descended upon Rick's neck.

"I'm afraid to tell you because I don't want you to take it the wrong way. I really only have the best intentions in mind".

"Is it about my lab?" Horatio asked absently as he began nipping at Rick's chest.

"No," Rick sighed, lightly pushing Horatio away, "It's about us".

Horatio stopped, the lust fading from his soft blue eyes. He released his grip on Rick's clothing and backed up slightly. At first he wasn't at all sure of what to say.

"What is it?"

"I…" Rick took a deep breath before he could continue, "I know that you had relations with a woman you had never met before during hurricane Anthony". He nervously looked up at Horatio, who gave Rick a small nod, prompting him to continue. "And that because of the hurricane and your recent encounter with Clavo Cruz that you were under a significant amount of stress". Horatio nodded again. "Did you," Rick was finding it difficult to breathe but he pressed on, "did you have intercourse because it relieved stress?"

Horatio broke eye contact and slightly dropped his head. It was a secret that he wasn't necessarily proud of, but he knew that there was no use in denying it. He nodded.

Rick gently lifted his lovers chin and looked into his eyes, "how many times have you done this, Horatio?"

The redhead's eyes closed, Rick couldn't tell if he was counting or trying to remember. Either way, the answer would be more than 'one'.

"It's okay," Rick whispered, "You don't have to tell me".

"Would it make you feel any better," Horatio started, his voice shaking slightly, "if I told you that I didn't initiate any actions that lead to intercourse and that I refused offers from widows and anyone who should be in grief?"

"That does make it a bit better," Rick admitted, "But what has me concerned is if you took any precautions".

"I wore a condom and had myself tested afterwards".

"Every time?"

"Every time".

Rick nodded and backed away from his lover, not quite sure of what to say or do next. Horatio leaned against the wall, his gaze fixed on nothing particular. Horatio came to Rick's office to plan a date for the weekend and have a steamy office make out session. He never expected this to happen.

"I'm sorry," Rick whispered, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable".

"No harm done".

Stetler walked back over to the redhead and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek. Horatio turned his head and captured Rick's lips, kissing him passionately.

"However," Rick said, breaking away, "using sex as a way of managing stress is a practice that is at best psychologically unhealthy. I know you know when you're doing it; that's… well that's helpful. But Horatio, if you can't find some other outlet I highly encourage to go to that psychologist I've been telling you about".

Horatio nodded, wrapping his arms around Rick's waist and holding him close. Rick leaned down and lightly kissed his lover's neck. Horatio turned his eyes away from Rick again, sighing softly.

"I'm sorry," He murmured, "I… I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why I let myself get into such situations. And I certainly didn't mean to hurt you in any way".

"I'm fine," Rick said soothingly, "At least we're in agreement about the issue".

Rick kissed Horatio's neck again before he let go and took a few steps back, sitting on his desk. He smiled at his lover, trying to bring him gently back into his role.

"Now, Lieutenant," Rick started, "what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"

"Actually, I was wondering if you were at all busy Saturday night," Horatio admitted with a slight blush.

"I'm not. Do you want to go somewhere?"

"As a matter of fact, I do".

"Where?"

"My place".


	5. Memories

Thank you for the reviews madysoncurrier, Vivalavidaa, Miami girl1991, daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews froggy_freak, lausi_gm, and tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Five: Memories**

The sun was setting over Horatio Caine's Coral Gables home. It was a two story building, mostly white, a few palm trees. The most notable thing about the location was that Horatio managed to get a slice of beach. The house itself had faint echoes of a fortress, which Rick found to be quite fitting.

The scent of dinner still hung in the air, despite the clean dishes and the fan spinning away in the kitchen. The two had moved to the living room, relaxing next to each other on the soft white leather couches. A bottle of Chilean wine sat on the coffee table between them, its sweet aroma mixing with the odors of dinner and the ocean.

Horatio and Rick had been reminiscing upon their college days; the professors at NYU and strange people they met when they were just officers. Only coming to find that they had more and more in common. Eventually they found themselves talking about their childhoods.

"Wasn't that a chick show?" Horatio smiled as he sipped at his wine.

"Probably," Rick chuckled, "I only watched it because my sister did. We used to run home from school together because it started at 3 and only went to 3:30".

"That's cute. What was 'Dark Shadows' even about?"

"oh… vampires and stuff like that".

"I preferred 'The Addams Family' myself".

"Oh god, that was a good show… Oh! Did you watch 'Lost in Space'?"

"Jonathan Harris!" Horatio laughed, "I remember him! Did you ever listen to that interview?"

"'I'm not British, just affected'?"

"Indeed. Him and Leonard Nimoy, I grew up on both of them".

"I loved 'Star Trek', I have always enjoyed Sci-fi".

"Kirk and Spock and Sulu and Leonard Horatio McCoy".

"'Horatio'? Really?"

"Oh God, if anything had my name in it I latched onto it. Lots of 'Star Trek' and 'Hamlet'".

"Then that one 'Star Trek' episode came where they performed 'Hamlet'".

"That made me so very happy," Horatio grinned, "everyone was obsessed with space. I just wish I would have been old enough to truly appreciate the lunar landing".

"Me too, and the majority of the 60's in that case".

The two men fell into a silent reflection, thinking on the less troubling moments of their pasts. Horatio put his wine down on the coffee table before he joined Rick on the sofa.

"And it's taken me 53 years to find you?" Horatio whispered softly, stroking Rick's hair.

"And I've held on for 32?" Rick sighed, looking into Horatio's brilliant blue eyes.

Horatio leaned in and gently nuzzled Rick's neck, "I'm sorry I took so long".

"I'm just happy I've waited," Rick said as he descended upon Horatio's lips.

Horatio barely got enough time to move Rick's wine glass a safe distance away before Rick was upon him. The redhead struggled playfully under his lover's powerful grip, reminded of the handcuffs Rick had given him about a month ago. Stetler wrestled Horatio down onto the sofa, kissing and nipping at his neck as he pulled himself up onto Horatio's body.

Rick dipped his tongue into Horatio's ear before whispering, "Let me see your bedroom".

Horatio lifted his head and brushed his lips against Rick's. Once again entranced by Horatio's gaze, Rick captured the redhead's mouth in a heated kiss. Their tongues dueled and hands wandered until their lungs burned with the need for air. Stetler broke away, breathing heavily and resting his head on Horatio's chest. Horatio tangled his fingers in Rick's dark brown hair and stroked his back.

"The bedroom is upstairs," Horatio murmured.

Rick climbed off of Horatio and helped him to his feet; quickly stealing a kiss before saying, "lead me there".

***

Horatio's bedroom was slightly larger than Rick's. It had a good sized dresser, a full length mirror, and a few bookshelves. There was a large window and a small patio (on which Horatio kept a telescope) that overlooked the ocean. What really caught Rick's attention was the king's size bed covered in silk sheets and large pillows. Horatio watched Rick's eyes widen at the sight of it.

"You like what you see?" Horatio grinned, placing his hands on Rick's waist.

"I'd like it better when I can watch your hot, naked body lost in those sheets," Rick purred as he felt Horatio dig his arousal into his backside.

Horatio spun Rick around, giving him a light kiss before he began unbuttoning his lover's shirt. Rick stood there, watching Horatio's hands swiftly pull the clothing from his body; the sight was hypnotic. He shivered as Horatio pulled off his belt and opened his pants for him.

"I want to fuck you," Horatio whispered as he started stripping off his own clothing, "will you let me?"

"Do you really need to ask?" Rick smiled as he pulled off Horatio's belt.

Horatio backed Rick up against the bed, their lips locked and their hands freeing each other from the last of their clothing. Stetler was pushed down onto the mattress, Horatio climbing on top of him and covering his chest and neck with kisses. The redhead hovered over Rick for a few moments; taking in the heat of Rick's flushed skin.

"I'll be right back," Horatio said as he dismounted the sergeant.

Stetler watched in silence as his lover opened the drawer of the nightstand and removed a bottle of lube and threw it on the bed. He also pulled out the pair of white furry handcuffs Rick had given him. Rick eyed them up with suspicion and an air of uneasiness.

"They're for me, not for you," Horatio chuckled at Rick's reaction.

Horatio beckoned Rick to get off the bed and stand by his side. Not quite so sure what Horatio was driving at, but ever curious, Rick obeyed the order. The redhead took Stetler's mouth in a passionate kiss, pulling their nude bodies together and rubbing their erections against each other. Rick trembled; although he was usually dominant in his and Horatio's private lives, the lieutenant was always quite capable of wooing him into submission.

After positioning Rick between himself and the bed, Horatio broke the kiss and spun his lover around. Rick stopped breathing and his heart began to pound as he saw how his current position echoed what had happened to him a few months ago. Although he knew that he was in no danger he couldn't help but feel unnerved.

"If you would rather be in a different position I would understand," Horatio whispered into his ear.

Rick shook his head; he didn't want his past to restrict what he could do with Horatio. Given, it may be a little soon, but he felt he had to overcome it sometime. Horatio kissed his neck and gently held onto his waist.

"Alright," Horatio said soothingly, "But you're really tense right now, so I need you to relax".

Stetler moaned softly as Horatio let his fingers glide over his warm body. His lover left a trail of light kisses across his shoulders. His fingers ever so lightly touched Rick's stiff cock, making him tremble with anticipation. Horatio, sensing that the other was ready, stopped.

"Now," Horatio hummed against Rick's skin, "bend over".

Rick felt his eyes dilate as fear began to take hold of him. To hear Mac's words come past Horatio's loving lips made him feel uneasy at best. He tried to force the memories of that night out of his mind, but Mac's threats and images only grew stronger. The judgment and terror he experienced began filling his head once more. He hid his trembling hands from his lover's view and cautiously obeyed; reminding himself that he was with Horatio and no one else.

Horatio ran his hand down Rick's back in a silent urge for him to relax. With his other hand he reached over for the lube, slicking up his fingers and brushing them against Rick's entrance. Stetler moaned softly as he felt Horatio probe into him, slowly pumping and scissoring, stretching him. He murmured Horatio's name between soft gasps. Horatio leaned down and kissed Rick gently all the way down his back, continuing to stroke him lovingly.

Finally lost in his lover's stimulations, Rick pushed against Horatio's fingers, attempting to take them deeper. The redhead smiled and lightly brushed a finger against Rick's core, making him moan loudly. Horatio lubed up his stiff and straining cock and positioned himself.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Horatio asked gently.

"I want you, H," Rick gasped, needing more contact.

But as soon as Rick felt the tip of Horatio's cock brush against him he realized that it is too soon. Rick dug his fingers into the sheets, trying to keep himself from fighting against Horatio. The redhead slowly and carefully pushed himself into Rick, stroking his lover's back all the while.

It was sensuous at first, but the deeper Horatio went the more panicked Rick became. The memories of restraint and mutilation descended upon him. He heard Mac's voice in his mind and the warm silk sheets turned cold with the remembrances of the mountains.

Horatio began to slowly thrust into Stetler, reaching down and stroking Rick's straining cock. Rick closed his eyes, trying to will the sensations he was experiencing with Horatio to overpower his memories. But the smallest movement, the smallest sound could send his mind back to that painful night.

The redhead looked down and noticed how tense Rick was; maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. He placed his free hand on Rick's hip as he tried to think of how to maneuver Rick into a different position. But the feeling of a hand on his hip became far too much for Rick to handle and he reacted. He twisted his body and struck Horatio's face with the back of his fist, hard.

Horatio recoiled in pain, pulling himself out of Rick and stumbling back. He lost his footing and collapsed against the door, the knob harshly striking the back of his head. Letting his body succumb to gravity, he fell into a heap on the floor. He was far too dazed and in too much shock to move from this position.

Rick turned around and trembled as he saw his lover's condition. He looked down at the back of his hand; it was red after it came in contact with Horatio's cheek bone.

"Horatio?" Rick whispered as he approached his lover's body, "I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to… It just sort of happened. I didn't put any thought into it".

"I understand," Horatio moaned, tasting blood in his mouth from his bitten tongue.

Rick felt his heart sink as he saw blood spill onto Horatio's lips. He moved in and quickly kissed it away. Horatio turned his face and averted his tear filled eyes from Rick.

"Horatio?"

"I'm fine," the lieutenant choked, "It just knocked the wind out of me is all".

Rick murmured his lover's name once more as he held Horatio in his arms, stroking him and begging for forgiveness.


	6. Awakening

Thank you for the reviews Vivalavidaa, daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews lausi_gm, ktrisha, and tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Six: Awakening**

Rick was awakened by the screech of a seagull that soared past the window. He stirred, his hand running over the silk sheets as he tried to find his bearings. He turned his head away from the glaring morning sun that cut through the sheer curtains covering the bedroom window.

Horatio lay next to Rick, sleeping peacefully. Stetler beamed down on him as he saw his lover's body wrapped so lovingly in the silk sheets. Resting his head on his arm he watched his lover's chest rise and fall with a gentle rhythm. He mussed Horatio's hair for a while before he got up to go find the bathroom.

***

A sliver of sunlight burst through a slit in the curtains, falling over Horatio's eyes. He turned away from the dawn and tried to hide under the sheets, wanting more sleep. The side of his face ached and felt tight, his tongue gave him a slight stinging sensation but that was all. His gaze wandered to the bedside table, flooded with Tylenol, ice packs, antibacterials, tissue, and bottled water; all Rick brought up to him when he was on the floor late last night. Horatio reached back behind him to feel for Rick's body, only to run his hand over empty sheets. Yet he knew that Rick hadn't left him.

Horatio lay on his side, looking at the nightstand photograph of Rick. _I can hardly begin to imagine what must be haunting his mind_, Horatio thought as he sighed. _I mean, I have gone through some crap, but Rick… Jesus Christ. I don't want him to hang on to it, but I don't want him to force himself to let go so soon. He needs time to look at the encounter from an intelligent and logical viewpoint, which I know he has done; but I doubt that he has begun to grasp the forces at play behind it. Only time can heal this; but I admire him for his self-reliance._

Rick walked out of the master bath, still slightly damp and with a towel around his waist. He saw for the first time that morning the darkened bruise across his lover's face. Immediately he was at Horatio's side again, kissing, caressing, and apologizing.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Rick," Horatio cooed gently, "This isn't your fault".

"I'm sorry," He apologized again, "It's just that I can't get over what happened last month".

"'Get over'?!" Horatio echoed, "I can't expect you to 'get over' rape! And you shouldn't expect that of yourself either!" He calmed down, sitting up and cupping Stetler's face in his hand. "I don't want you to do anything that would make you feel at all uncomfortable, okay Rick?"

Rick nodded, turning his eyes from his lover.

"Look at me, love," the redhead whispered. He stayed still until his baby blues were gazing into Rick's soft chestnut eyes. "I pushed things too fast last night, I didn't mean to. I don't know what came over me". Horatio sighed and stroked Rick's hands, "I'm really sorry".

"I'm alright, Horatio," Rick smiled, pulling his lover close to him and kissing him gently.

"You know," Horatio whispered into Rick's skin, "It's a shame that you already took a shower. I would have loved to join you".

Rick smiled at the sudden sensuous tone of Horatio's voice. He pulled himself away from the redhead and thought for a few moments before responding.

"Why didn't you show me the bath last night?"

Rick was referring to a large and deep bathtub that was the centerpiece of the master bathroom. It was of white porcelain and had massage jets. There was certainly enough room for two people to sit comfortably in it.

"I intended to draw out the fun for a few days," Horatio smirked, "I didn't want us to do everything all at once. Did you already use it?"

Rick shook his head; he had used the glass shower. The lieutenant stood up, letting the silk sheets slip off of his body, revealing himself to his lover. He pulled Rick to his feet and tore off the towel from around his waist, looking him over with passion in his eyes.

"Yet," Horatio sighed, "you've already showered. I must go alone". He playfully turned and began to walk away. Stetler grabbed Horatio's arm roughly, displaying his dominance.

"Stop," Rick ordered. Horatio turned around, intrigued by the sergeant's tone. "Cleanliness is godliness," he whispered as he led Horatio into the bathroom.

***

The bath had been filled with terribly hot water, steam visibly rising from it in even the warm Miami weather. A packet of bubble bath had been poured in and the jets were slowly churning the bubbles to surface. Rick was perched upon the edge of the tub, his legs open and Horatio on his knees between them.

"I can't help but feeling," Rick panted, "that this is exactly what I have warned you about".

"This isn't stress relief," Horatio smiled as his tongue began working against Rick's cock, "I've just been wanting to do this to you".

"Well," Rick chuckled breathlessly, "at least you're honest".

"I'm always honest," Horatio whispered before he swallowed Rick down.

Stetler threw back his head and gasped as he felt his lover's sweet and sensuous mouth surround him. He wound his fingers into strands of soft red hair, thrusting lightly into Horatio's mouth. Rick swore as the sexual stimulations began to overtake him. Horatio stroked Rick's thighs and fondled his balls, loving how much Rick wanted him.

Rick tugged on Horatio's hair and ordered him to stop; the redhead looked up, confused. Without a word Rick brought his lover to his feet and motioned for him to get in the tub.

Horatio slowly lowered himself into warm, churning water; his skin tingling with the heat. The bubbles wrapped themselves around his chest as he sat down on one of the seats. Rick climbed into the tub across from Horatio. He looked up at the redhead seductively before he beckoned him to cross and tend to him. The lieutenant lathered up his hands and slowly ran them over Rick's arms and chest.

"This would be a lot more stimulating if you hadn't already taken a shower," Horatio mumbled.

"From this point on no talking," Rick murmured as he relaxed into his lover's touch.

Rick's arms wrapped around Horatio's waist, pulling him onto his lap. He dug his arousal into Horatio's thigh as he slowly ran his soapy hands over the other man's body. Horatio moaned in want as he felt Stetler massage his chest.

Rick lifted Horatio to his feet and spun him around. The redhead braced himself on the rim and parted his legs as he felt his lover gently stroke his backside. Rick carefully slid two slicked up fingers into Horatio's tight ass. The lieutenant moaned in want and pushed back, trying to take them in deeper. Rick stroked the other man's straining cock as he pumped and scissored him. Horatio moaned and panted as his lover took his time stretching him.

"So…close…" Horatio gasped, feeling his pre-cum drip off the tip of this throbbing erection.

Rick removed his fingers and sat down in the tub again, pulling Horatio with him. The redhead cried out as Rick impaled him upon his impossibly hard cock. Rick let his lover adjust, continuing to stroke his dick as he did so. A pleading whimper passed Horatio's lips and Rick began thrusting slowly and steadily.

"Oh Horatio," Rick whispered into his neck, "I want you. I've always wanted you". Horatio moaned softly as Rick backed down. "You're so perfect. So intense, so gentle, so… so gorgeous". The lieutenant's breath was coming in short gasps as Rick began building him up again, thrusting roughly into him. "So sexy," Rick sighed lustfully, making Horatio tremble, "cum for me".

Horatio threw back his head and thrust wildly into Rick's hand, he was so close to the edge but still needed more. Rick snaked an arm around Horatio's chest, pinning him. He gave his lover's cock rougher strokes, knowing how much he loved to be manhandled. Looking over his lover's hot and sensuous body, Rick finally saw the missing piece. He rested Horatio's head on his shoulder, turned his own, and slipped his tongue into the redhead's ear. That did it. Horatio screamed Rick's name as he shot his cum over his hand. Rick moaned into his lover's neck as Horatio milked his release out of him.

The two men rested together, Horatio lying limply on Rick's lap. Rick gently caressed his lover's chest and lovingly washed his hair. The redhead often didn't care much for being pampered, but for Rick he made exceptions. He took such behavior to be an extension of the manipulation Rick places upon him during sex.

Rick gently led Horatio out of the bath, letting the water drain behind them. He lay the redhead down on a towel he had spread across the tile floor. Carefully the brunette crawled on top of the lieutenant, kissing and nipping at moist flesh all the way. Horatio moaned happily as their wet bodies came in contact with each other, rubbing together erotically. Their breathing grew heavy as the two men began to get hard again.

Needing more stimulation, Rick took both his and Horatio's cocks in one hand and stroked them vigorously. Horatio struggled playfully and cursed with the rough handling he was receiving. Their bodies were still stimulated from a few minutes before it didn't take too long for each man to reach his point of ecstasy. Gasping and whimpering they reached their completion.

"Oh God, Rick", Horatio panted, trying to catch his breath.

"Horatio", the sergeant whispered, grabbing a towel to clean them up and dry them off.

Rick stepped out of the room, coming back with two plush robes. He helped Horatio into one and he pulled the other around his own body. In silence he brought Horatio back into the bedroom, lying him down on the mattress once more.

The two men lovingly kissed each other over and over again. Rick slid off of the redhead's body curling up next to him. Horatio wrapped an arm around Rick, holding him close.

"Were you comfortable with that?" Horatio whispered. Rick nodded quietly, his arms bringing his lover closer. "Was it just the position that bothered you?"

"I think so. I hope so".

Horatio lightly kissed Rick's head and rested in silence for a while. "Does… erm… playing rough with me make you uncomfortable? You've been refraining from that lately".

"It was really just a spur of the moment thing before".

"Don't I turn you on enough?"

"I just fucked you how many times?" Rick chuckled, "Of course you turn me on, Horatio. It's more of a mental state I get in that I haven't really felt comfortable with since…"

"I see," Horatio sighed, a little disappointed. "You know, Rick; I think that we need another weekend like this. One where I can remind you how amazing you can be".

"I'd like that," Rick smiled, kissing his lover as the two of them dozed off.


	7. New York Import

Thank you for the reviews daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews lausi_gm, and tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Seven: New York Import**

Horatio looked up from his desk at the MD-PD Crime lab, Eric catching his attention at the door. The lieutenant had tried to spend a lot of the day doing paperwork and hiding out; he hadn't quite mastered the art of hiding a limp. He motioned Eric in.

"Eric," Horatio greeted, "how may I help you?"

"Hi, H," Delko smiled, looking around the office, "you haven't been out in the field today, is something wrong?"

"I have a pretty bad headache," Horatio lied, "I'm barely getting this filing done. Is there something you wanted to talk with me about?"

"You know the stab victim from this morning?"

"The one with the broken wrists? Yes".

"Well, his patterns match those of seven unsolved cases that had stopped three months ago in New York. We're communicating our findings to the NY-PD Crime Lab right now, but I'm pretty sure that I can tell you now that we have a serial killer on our hands".

"Does he have any physical similarities to the cases in New York?"

"They're all in their late thirties, Caucasian, and male".

"Aren't most victims of serial killers female or children?"

"An exception?" Eric shrugged, "Anyways, I'll keep you posted".

"Yes, thank you Eric," Horatio nodded as the trace expert left the room.

_New York?_ Horatio thought, _I need to warn Rick._

***

Rick sat quietly up at his own desk, he and Molly now splitting the work load evenly. He paged trough another file of a newbie cop who had found his own way of "confiscating" drugs.

"What kind of morons do they let into the academy nowadays?" Rick mumbled as he pulled out the proper papers to start up a drug test.

He heard a knock at the door.

"Come in".

Horatio quietly slipped into the office, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He didn't want anyone to know how often he ducked out of the lab to spend quality time with Rick. Before their relationship he did go up to visit IAB, but the occasions were few and far between.

"Horatio?" Rick gasped, getting up and greeting him as he entered. "I didn't expect to see you today". He locked the door behind the lieutenant before he spun around and coiled his arms around his lover. "Now tell me," he whispered lecherously, "to what do I owe this privilege?"

The redhead let Stetler kiss him deeply a few times before he finally broke away.

"I can't spend too much time up here," Horatio whispered seriously, "and I have some knowledge that may be of your concern".

"What is it?" Rick asked, his initial desire fading into worry.

"I think – I'm not saying for certain, but I _think_ – that Mac may be coming down here either later today or tomorrow".

"What?!" Rick gasped, backing up against his desk.

"I just wanted to give you the heads up," Horatio said quickly, trying to calm Stetler down, "if you just hang out up here I guarantee that he won't bother you".

"Why is he coming?!" Rick panicked, beginning to pace around the room.

"A serial killer from NYC has possibly settled in Miami, although exactly why I don't know".

"No!" Rick shouted, his voice building, "That can't be right!"

"Rick, please calm down," Horatio said, taking his hands.

"Keep him out of here! Don't let him in!"

"Please, love".

"Don't… let… him…hurt…" Rick's voice trembled before he fell into Horatio's arms, shaking as his eyes filled with tears.

"Rick," the redhead whispered lovingly, backing them onto the couch.

The two men held each other, relaxing into the cushions of the sofa. Rick buried his face into Horatio's shoulder, crying softly. The lieutenant gently kissed Rick's hair, comforting him.

"I'm here. I'm right here," Horatio cooed, "And I'll never let him hurt you again".

Rick nodded, slowly letting go of Horatio and trying to compose himself.

"I want you to just stay up here," Horatio whispered, "You may not even have to see him".

***

Horatio stood in front of the MD-PD, waiting for an airport taxi to pull up. Eric and Ryan managed to prove that the victim was that of a serial killer from New York. The redheaded lieutenant turned the file over in his hands again; he had hoped that more time could pass before he would have to see Mac again.

His heart jumped to his throat as he watched the taxi drive up to the front of the department. Cautiously he approached the vehicle, trying to control his temper. He watched the familiar figure lean forward and pay the driver before he turned and stepped out of the cab.

Mac lifted his hazel eyes, squinting into the Miami sun. He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, taking in the view. He had always somewhat enjoyed his visits to Miami, although he wished them to be on better circumstances. However, given his recent confrontations with Horatio, he was hardly looking forward to leading this case.

Mac approached the Miami lieutenant, his naturally militaristic build dueling with the intensity of Horatio's eyes. He wasn't sure if Horatio would stick to the case or not, Mac personally just wanted to get this over with.

"The victim was found five hours ago," Horatio said matter-of-factly, handing Mac the file.

"The time of death?"

"Our coroner puts it at sometime around three in the morning".

"It's the same guy alright," Mac nodded as he looked over the case file.

"The deceased is a Rev. Orville Klugmann, a New York native. He was found by a passing motorist in a ditch near the 'glades".

"Yeah, most of the victims were in some way connected with the church. I need a full out search of all heavily urban areas with little security, he'll hide in terrain that echoes New York".

"On the contrary," Horatio said, leading them into the building, "we expect him to have staked out a corner of the 'glades".

"If that's the case our job got a lot harder".

"Horatio," Liz chirped up from her position behind the desk, "You're wanted in the morgue".

"Thank you, Liz" Horatio nodded as he led Mac to the elevators.

They stood in silence in front of the elevator doors, Mac trying to review the case file despite the tension between himself and Horatio. The lieutenant himself was trying desperately to focus on the task at hand and put his hostility towards Mac aside. The doors slid open and Horatio pushed the button for the morgue.

"I noticed you're limping," Mac muttered in a way that lip readers watching the security cameras couldn't understand him, "You and Rick still together?"

"Yes," Horatio whispered, turning from the cameras, "Yes we are".

"I also noticed the bruise on your face," Mac said, indicating with his eyes the bruise Rick had accidentally put upon him, "how rough do you let him get with you?"

"I don't recall my sex life being any of your business".

"Did your lab figure out that you're gay yet?"

"I'm bi," Horatio snapped, Mac was really trying his patience, "And no, they haven't".

"I'm concerned about you is all".

"I doubt that".

Ding. Lower Level: Morgue.

"To be continued," Horatio murmured as he and Mac stepped off the elevator.

Horatio led Mac down from the observing platform and to the autopsy table, they looked around, nobody except for the cadaver seemed to be there.

"Sorry about that, Dad," came a voice from behind them, "I got a phone call".

"Kyle," Horatio raised his eyebrows and smiled down on his son, "Where's the M.E.?"

"Stepped out about a half hour ago," Kyle shrugged, "but here's what I wanted to show you".

He lifted up the late reverend's hand and pointed to the nails; they were worn quite thin and bent back.

"Unlike the other cases where there was only minor bruising to indicate a struggle, Orville fought back. We found accordion-style epithelials under his nails, some have already been sent up to DNA. Actually," Kyle paused and checked his watch, "that was a while ago. Wasn't this case top priority?"

"I thought it was," Horatio nodded.

"Shouldn't the test be done by now?"

"H!" Ryan Wolfe called out as he stepped out the stairwell. The three men around the body turned and watched as the trace expert approached them.

Ryan sighed heavily, catching his breath, "We have a situation".


	8. Personal Matters

Thank you for the reviews madysoncurrier, vivalavidaa, daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews lausi_gm, tbsavafob6, and ktrisha (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Eight: Personal Matters**

There was a small crowd of people around the interrogation room of the crime lab. Horatio's eyes widened, he had never seen his entire lab so riled up about anything before. Valera was the first to see Horatio approach the crowd and she quickly left it and returned to her post; the other CSIs quickly following suit.

As the mass of people dispersed the image of Rick and Natalia, apparently having a shouting contest, became clear to Horatio and Mac. Horatio motioned for Mac to join him as they walked in on the argument.

"What you have done doesn't only put this department on the line, but your career and your life!" Stetler snapped at Natalia, "don't you understand the gravity of the situation?!"

"This wouldn't be a problem if you would have just minded your own damn business!" she shouted back.

"When you let your personal life interfere with an investigation such as this, you MAKE it my damn business!"

"What is going on here?" Horatio asked sternly, making himself known. He left Mac at the door and motioned for him to be silent; he just needed a second pair of ears for what was going to happen. Rick looked up at the detective and the color drained from his face. Horatio flashed Rick a comforting look as he approached.

"Oh thank God, Horatio," Natalia breathed, "maybe you can talk some sense into him?"

"Into ME?" Rick started up again, a flush returning to his face "I'm not the one who-"

"-Stetler!" Horatio snapped, "sit down".

"Thank you," Natalia smirked.

"Natalia," Horatio grumbled, "you too".

"Now," the lieutenant sighed, sitting down himself, "Rick, would you briefly explain what this shouting match is over?"

"This," Rick said simply, tossing a crumpled piece of paper onto the table in front of Horatio.

"No!" Natalia cried, trying to grab for it.

Horatio snatched it up before Natalia could get to it; he unfolded the paper, recognizing it immediately.

"These are DNA results," Horatio noted, scanning over the document, "why is this document in such ragged condition?"

"I don't know," Rick smirked, "Hey Natalia, why is the document in such ragged conditi-".

"-Must I remind both of you that I expect every internal investigation to be held with decency and respect on behalf of both parties?" Horatio interrupted.

Rick turned his eyes away from Horatio but still focused the question on Natalia.

"It's in ragged condition because he tore it out of my hands," she said simply.

"Ms. Boa Vista," Horatio calmly said, "Now, Sergeant Stetler and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye on many things. But I know that he wouldn't have acted in the manner that you described without good reason. Would one of you simply tell me what exactly that reason is?"

"Ms. Boa Vista," Stetler hissed, "was attempting to destroy evidence in a case regarding the serial killer from New York".

"Is this true?" Horatio whispered to Natalia, who nodded quietly, "why?"

"Because Paul would never hurt anyone!" she blurted out, tears coming to her eyes.

"Paul?" Horatio looked down at the DNA report and read the name 'Paul Daemon'. "How do you know Paul?" the lieutenant asked.

"We're dating," she sobbed, "and I know that he wouldn't hurt a soul".

"Because you have _such_ brilliant insight when it comes to men," Rick couldn't help but to blurt out.

"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING PRICK!" She screamed, bringing parts of the crowd back around the interrogation chamber.

"Natalia," Horatio snapped, "calm down. Stetler, I'll question you later, go back upstairs and don't speak to anyone on the way out".

Mac stepped away from the door, clearing a path for the sergeant. Rick obeyed Horatio's instructions and left the others alone for the time being.

"Thank you Horatio," Natalia whispered.

"It's alright, and I'll talk to him about his conduct. Now, tell me," he said gently as he cocked his head to the side, "how long have you and Paul been dating?"

"About two weeks," she said quietly.

"I see," Horatio said, biting his lip. He knew that the killer had moved from New York at some point during the last three months. "What do you know about him?"

"He moved from New York City a few months ago, he said he needed some fresh air. But he does mention that he misses NYC, he lived there his entire life. He works at Neon, that bar a few blocks away".

"Have you ever been to his residence? Did he share much about his personal life?"

"No," she admitted, "but here's his card".

Natalia handed Horatio a small business card.

_Paul Daemon_

_(630) 555-8947_

_2269 Dan Marino Blvd, Miami Gardens, FL_

"He works at Neon, you say?" Horatio asked.

"Yeah, but that's his personal card with his cell phone and home address".

"Thank you Ms. Boa Vista," Horatio nodded, "that will be all".

"He's innocent, Horatio. I know he is".

"Can you account for his whereabouts last night?"

"He was with me," she said firmly.

Horatio nodded, knowing full well that Natalia was trying to pull the wool over his eyes, "That will be all, Ms. Boa Vista".

She nodded respectfully at Horatio and Mac before she returned to her post at DNA.

"She's lying," Horatio said, turning to Mac.

"How do you know?"

"Because he is," Horatio stood up and showed Mac the card.

"A Chicago area code," Mac noted, raising his eyebrows, "and that address doesn't look right".

"Unless he lives at Land Shark Stadium, I would have to agree with you".

"So, Natalia and Paul have something to hide, well… Paul does at any rate".

"He's our prime suspect now," Horatio nodded, "and knowing how naïve Natalia is, I'm afraid that we might be in danger. She may have told him too much".

Horatio shifted his weight from side to side as he thought, "Mac, you talk to Eric and Ryan in trace. I'll be with you in about fifteen minutes".

"Where are you going?" Mac asked as Horatio stepped out of the room.

"To have a word with Rick".

***

Rick sat at his desk, scribbling furiously away at various papers to get Natalia relieved of the Paul Daemon case. He didn't want her to bring an investigation down on the lab, but he knew that with every CSI knowing about the incident it may be unavoidable. There was a soft knock on his door.

"Come in".

Horatio timidly slipped into the room, quietly closing and locking the door behind him. The usual dominant façade that he puts on at the lab had faded away. The gentle, timid, and protective side of him showed; something that few people aside from Rick and his family had ever seen.

"Are you alright, Rick?"

Rick nodded, turning back to the task at hand.

"Don't fire Natalia," Horatio said softly.

"I won't," Rick sighed as he finished up the paperwork, "I just need her off the case".

"Thank you".

"However," Stetler noted, standing up to join Horatio in the middle of the room, "I'm only being this lenient because the 'investigation' was so spur of the moment. If she is caught doing anything like this again under a proper investigation into her character, I will have to release her".

"I figured as much," Horatio nodded, "but that's no excuse for you to treat her with such disrespect".

"I tell it like it is," Rick shrugged, "the truth hurts".

"Rick…"

Stetler groaned quietly, and looked around the room for an answer, "I'll apologize for my conduct when I release her, which I was just on my way to do".

"Thank you".

Rick tried to open the door, only to find that Horatio had locked it.

"You locked the door," Rick said, turning. Horatio nodded. "Is there something more to this meeting?"

Horatio took a few steps forward, took Rick's face in his hands, and kissed him deeply. Rick moaned and rested his body against the door, feeling Horatio's tongue sweep over his own. He wrapped one arm around the redhead's waist and lifted the other to tangle his fingers in his lover's hair. Horatio dropped his hands down to Rick's hips, holding him close. Rick massaged Horatio's tongue with his own until his lungs began to burn for oxygen. Reluctantly, Stetler broke away from the perfect heat of his lover's mouth.

"What was that for?" Rick breathed, smiling down on Horatio.

"For protecting my lab," Horatio grinned, leaning forward and giving Rick a gentle peck on the cheek. "And don't worry, this case is as good as closed, we'll get Mac out of here before you know it". He sighed, looking over Rick's body, "You're very brave, I don't know if I would be able to hold up as well as you did if I were in your shoes". With that, Horatio leaned into his lover's body and unbuttoned his shirt.


	9. Showdown

Thank you for the reviews, daxy and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the review, lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Nine: Showdown**

Horatio made his way down a flight of stairs back to the CSI lab, his lips swollen from kissing and his face slightly flushed. It always proved to be a struggle for Horatio to fall back into his formal role for the lab after hot encounters with Rick. Although he seemed to be doing quite well considering nobody in his lab even figured out he was bi yet.

He opened the door at the foot of the stairs and found himself to be face to face with Mac, making him jump slightly.

"That was quite a performance you two put on," Mac smirked, "no wonder your whole lab is in the dark".

"We do our best to keep our private lives as separate as possible from our public ones," Horatio stated, looking around to see if anyone was in earshot.

Mac leaned down and poured himself a cone of water from the water cooler near the door, "Why do I have trouble believing that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Ms. Boa Vista isn't being let go, is she?"

"She's part of our team, Mac".

"But not a very productive part, anyone can see that," Mac noted, raising an eyebrow, "you… made some sort of a bargain with Rick to keep her, didn't you?"

"She will not be fired, just taken off the case. And that was all Rick's idea, not mine".

"And I suppose the opened buttons on your shirt and the one on your pants are all just part of Rick's nonconventional way of saying 'I'm glad we agree'?"

Horatio's eyes widened, quickly he backed along the wall into a security blind spot before he adjusted his clothing. He gave the room another once over, and although he was the head of the department and the walls were made of glass, nobody seemed to be paying attention.

"You're just a toy to him, you know that, Horatio?" Mac muttered as he joined the lieutenant in the blind spot.

"You don't know what he has gone through for me," the redhead hissed angrily.

"I've seen him use and abuse you, I don't need to see any more".

"How many times do we need to tell you that what you saw was completely consensual? I have a bit of a kink, why is that so difficult to get through your thick skull?"

"We have a serial killer on our hands," Mac growled, "there is a CSI attempting to cover up her lover and our killer's tracks. I followed that bastard all the way from New York. He's in your city and nobody knows why. And what do you do? You take your mind off the task at hand by making out with your boyfriend during your work hours. Excuse me if I'm a little pissed off right now".

"You know, Mac," Horatio whispered, his eyes flashing, "what happened between Rick and I a few minutes ago wasn't about Paul… or Natalia… or the case in general. It wasn't about my protocol or his conduct or anything of that matter. You know what it was about? It was about you, Mac.

"Do you think it's at all easy for him to sit there knowing that he has to treat his rapist as an equal? Do you think it's easy for me to share a case with you? Do you think it's easy for him to have to watch? What about the fact that he has to hide any feelings of hostility or fear towards you? Does that sound easy, Mac? Because if he lets on just enough for my lab (who already doesn't care for him) to grow suspicious of his behavior, both he and I could be exposed and he would lose his job and I my reputation. And don't think that I won't take you down with me.

"But he would still live in fear. You know why? Because he is afraid that you'll kill him for telling the world what kind of monster you really are. He told me everything, Mac, everything. I know that you held a knife to his throat and his dick, Mac. That you used the cold side of the blade against the back of his neck to make him lie still as you violated him. I saw you open up his arms and his back with that damn pocket knife. But you know what, Mac? If you so much as think of hurting him again I will kill you. And believe me; I wouldn't need a fucking knife to do it either. No, I will choke the life out of you with my bare hands if you ever hurt him again.

"Which makes me wonder, Detective Taylor, how long did it take that black eye of yours to heal? Because if you pull this shit again I guarantee the next one will last longer. So I suggest you do the wise thing, Mac. I suggest you don't mention how you think Rick is wasting your time… because you ruined his life".

Horatio shoved past Mac and made his way back into the lab. The soft lustful blush that had once crossed his cheeks was replaced with an angered flush that overtook his figure. His soft blue eyes darkened with intensity as he stormed his way over to an officer in the corner, trying to burn off most of his steam before he got to her.

"Officer Kartz," he gently addressed the young woman, composing himself.

"Yes, Lieutenant Caine?"

She had been on the force for a few years, he had gotten to know her because she spent a lot of time in the lab keeping Valera company. Knowing about the unspoken dissent between Valera and Natalia, Horatio knew that the officer wouldn't mind doing him a favor. He beckoned her away from the scattered clusters of people and out of heavily trafficked areas.

"I need a favor," he whispered to her.

"What is it, sir?"

"In a few minutes, Ms. Boa Vista will be dismissed for the day. I need you to follow her, take mark of all locations, people, and behavior".

"Sir," she stammered, "I'm no detective".

"But I know you will be in one week," Horatio smiled, "so if you could change into your civilian clothes and do me this favor it would be greatly appreciated". She looked down, hesitant. "Julie, I fear for her safety and the well-being of everyone in this lab. Please do this for me".

"Alright," she agreed quietly.

"Thank you, officer," Horatio said sweetly, "do you have my number?" She shook her head. "Then take my card and call me if you see anything suspicious".

"Yes sir," she nodded, taking the card.

He watched Julie scamper off onto the elevator, on her way down to change her clothes. As the doors opened, Rick Stetler walked out with Natalia's papers in hand. Horatio leaned against the wall of the break room, far enough away to give them privacy but close enough to catch Natalia on her way out.

***

Rick made sure that Horatio was within his line of sight before he turned to enter the DNA lab. He flipped through his papers as he opened the door, making sure everything was in order. His head held high, Rick approached Natalia.

"Ms. Boa Vista?" Rick addressed her, she didn't respond so he kept going, "I would like to take a moment to apologize for my conduct. Some of my arguments may have been seen as… immature at best. I have been quite on edge lately and in the future I intend to put my own personal conflicts aside for the good of this department".

Natalia made a little noise to indicate that she had heard him, but not necessarily that she was listening. Rick drummed his fingers on the file as he tried to quickly place his intentions into words.

"However, Ms. Boa Vista, seeing as you have a personal connection to this case I'm afraid you can no longer work it".

"What?" she gasped, her head snapping up from her work table.

"I'm afraid you can no longer work this case because of your personal involvement".

"That's ridiculous! You won't even give me the chance to defend him?!"

"I'm sorry, but since the incident this morning every piece of evidence you collected is compromised because of your conflict of interests".

"I can't believe this…"

"If he is as innocent as you claim he is, then the evidence will clear his name".

"He's being set up!"

"We will look into that as a possibility, but right now you need to leave this case".

"What are you trying to do to me?"

"You're lucky I didn't write up a warrant for your arrest for obstructing justice," Rick snapped, "now get out of this lab before I have to call up an officer to escort you out".

"Well why didn't you?!" she yelled at the IAB sergeant.

"Natalia!" Horatio called out from across the hall, "Come here".

Natalia gave Stetler a quick glare before she crossed the hall to Horatio's side.

"What is this all about?" the lieutenant asked, indicating Rick.

"Stetler wants me off the case".

"Natalia, whenever anyone in our lab has a personal connection to a victim or a witness or in this case a suspect, we see it as a conflict of interests. We take no sides, just like the evidence. You know this".

"But Horatio, I know that Paul is innocent".

"Yes, and that is why you're being taken off the case. Actually, I want you to go home and rest; you seem awfully high strung today".

"Horatio," she whispered, tugging lightly on the collar of his suit, "maybe we can reach an agreement?"

She brought herself close to her boss, pulling him in towards her. Rick watched her move in on Horatio from his position in the DNA lab and he felt something he hadn't in a long time: jealousy. His soft brown eyes darkened to black and his ears grew warm with anger. His muscles tightened, his fingers digging into the flies. He clenched his teeth behind closed lips, wanting nothing more than to run over and tear her away from Horatio.

"Go home, Ms. Boa Vista," the redhead said sternly, not moving but glaring down upon her.

She backed away quickly; not saying another word for fear that her reputation in the department will slip again. Horatio walked towards his office, a slightly irritated air about him as he entered, Mac following him. Rick stepped out of the DNA lab, leaning against its glass walls, his face slightly red and his chest still tight.

"You okay, Rick?" Valera asked as he walked over to the lab.

Rick shook his head. He always felt he could be slightly more open to Valera, she was the only person on the team aside from Horatio who wasn't completely irritated by his presence. She also addressed Rick by his first name, which was refreshing.

"What's got you down?" she asked, cocking her head. Rick didn't answer; he wasn't that open with her. "Is it your shirt? Your tie? Your wardrobe in general?"

"Shut up, Valera".

Although, they weren't exactly buddies.


	10. Interrogation

Thank you for the review, daxy (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, wolfsong98, tbsavafob, lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Ten: Interrogation**

Eric Delko relaxed into the sofa in the break room, staring up at the television. He sipped at his soda and carefully unwrapped his sandwich, placing it on the arm of the couch. It was a slow day in Miami, aside from the reverend there didn't seem to be anyone else in the city who was a victim of foul play. Even the news seemed to be filled with nothing but fluff and propaganda. The election was a distant memory and the inauguration was an uneventful swearing in of second terms.

The most active people of the day were Frank, who was running around getting warrants; and Ryan, who was in the A/V lab spending a lot of time listening to the New York CSIs describe the case. Valera's job was done as soon as she re-tested the epithelial samples that Kyle gave her. The victim's location was already cleared and cleaned, the initial crime scene was never found.

The reverend turned out to be a very quiet man who kept to himself. His parents had been dead for years and he had no siblings to speak of. His friends were of little help to the investigation, not knowing much about his personal life. He had no enemies that they knew of. His home and office didn't point in any particular direction, neither did his car. It was almost the perfect crime.

It was the slowest day that Eric could remember.

Calleigh joined Eric in the break room, grabbing an orange out of the fruit bowl and plopping down at the table. She was jittery, most of her energy was usually burned off at the firing range, but today she had no such luck. The first half of the day she spent organizing the firearms case, now she was bored.

Her eyes wandered over to Eric's effects, he had taken them off and placed them on the table. He found it uncomfortable to sit with his gun and badge still attached to him.

"Can I clean your gun?" Calleigh blurted out, poking the firearm on the table.

"What? Oh, yeah, go ahead".

"What did you think I was talking about," she giggled.

"I thought you were trying out a new pickup line," Eric smiled. "Are you as bored as I am?"

"Oh my God, yes. And even when Frank does bring in Paul there is the distinct possibility that we have hit a dead end".

"Don't worry, Cal. I'm sure Horatio will be able to squeeze some information out of him".

***

Horatio sat alone in the interrogation room, listening to the soft spring shower intensify into a steady rain, darkening the sky. He looked like he was looking up important information on his cell phone, but he was really just playing Tetris. This case was going nowhere fast, and Paul wasn't being very cooperative. Hopefully Paul would let enough information slip to give the team the break they needed, but Horatio wasn't even sure if that would happen.

After what felt like hours, Frank Tripp entered the room with Paul Daemon. Paul was a man of average height but muscular build. His image somewhat echoed that of Natalia's late ex-husband, except Paul had longer black hair, electric green eyes, and a slightly softer looking face. Frank's face, on the other hand, had turned quite red; it was obvious that Paul had spent a good amount of time trying his patience.

"Where's my lawyer?" Paul asked, sounding a little annoyed.

Frank looked down on the smaller man in a way that said 'I could crush your head with one hand if I really _really_ wanted to'.

"You'll get your lawyer, Paul. I wouldn't worry about that. But right now I just need you to answer a few questions," Horatio said calmly, "Sit down".

Paul obeyed and sat down for Horatio without any questioning or rebellion. This just made Frank angrier and more frustrated; obviously Paul was playing mind games with him. Horatio motioned for the other officer in the room to remove Frank, who was becoming a distraction for Paul.

"Today," Horatio started, standing up, "Has been very busy for you, hasn't it, Mr. Daemon?"

"Your cop's been riding my back for the past few hours," Paul remarked, relaxing into the interrogation chair.

"I'm referring to the incident this morning".

"This morning?"

"When you killed Rev. Orville Klugmann".

"What? I didn't kill anyone! I would never kill anyone! I don't even know anyone by that name!"

"Maybe this," Horatio said pointedly as he pulled out the photo taken at autopsy, "will jog your memory".

The lieutenant slid the photograph across the table to Paul. Paul lifted up the picture and examined the face carefully.

"I've never seen this man before in my life," he said definitely.

"That's interesting," Horatio said, cocking an eyebrow, "because we found your skin cells under the late reverend's nails".

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that he scratched you; meaning that you two had a confrontation; meaning you, Mr. Daemon, are a liar. Now start talking. And I want the truth this time".

"I don't know when or even how he scratched me. I've never seen him!"

"Roll up your sleeves, Paul," Horatio ordered.

"What?"

"Sleeves: roll them up". Paul cocked his head in a confused manner at Horatio. "Do it. Now".

Shrugging, Paul rolled up his sleeves of his shirt. Horatio lightly bit his lip in frustration when he saw that they were clean. Just for measure, the suspect showed Horatio the underside of his arms too. Nothing. The lieutenant pretended to carefully examine them as he raked his brain for any more information he could pull out of this guy.

"Thank you, Mr. Daemon," Horatio nodded, Paul putting his sleeves back down. "So… you just moved here from New York". Paul nodded. "I'm a New York man myself, Paul. So what was it that brought you here? The sun? The surf? What?"

"My brother," Paul said, looking up at Horatio, "He moved down here so his wife could be closer to her family. Then he couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it was and how much I would love it here. So I visited for a while and then decided to buy a little condo here".

"Interesting," Horatio said, digging into his pockets, "because I would hardly call Land Shark Stadium a 'little condo'".

He tossed the card that Natalia had given him down onto the table. Picking it up and turning it in his hands, Paul looked it over.

"Have you ever been to Chicago, Paul?"

"What? No. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Because your phone seems to have frequented there. That's a Chicago area code".

"Look, I don't know where you got this card, but-"

"I received it from your girlfriend, Ms. Boa Vista".

"Natalia? When?"

"Once you became my prime suspect".

Paul fell silent; he wasn't quite sure what to say. He had almost forgotten that Natalia mentioned once how she was a CSI. But it was so brief in passing that it had fallen to the back of his mind.

"You should know, Mr. Daemon, that Natalia was an excellent advocate for you," Horatio smiled. Paul grinned and looked up at Horatio hopefully. "Unfortunately for you, we only listen to the evidence".

***

"How did it go?" Mac asked from his position on the couch in Horatio's office.

"Not well," Horatio grumbled, sitting down at his desk.

"But you found his epithelials under the reverend's nails".

"I thought that too before I realized that Paul frequented the bus system".

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"The bus that goes by Neon and the church narrowly avoided a collision late last night; the crash would have been two cars and a bus if the driver didn't have such fast reflexes. She swerved and braked. It was a busy hour too, so there were a few people standing. Some minor injuries were reported, but a scratch would have been too trivial to report. Our victim reported a slight trauma to the head due to a fall".

"Where are you going with this?"

"Rev. Klugman would have tried to break the fall and probably would have ran into someone. And the incident happened around the time that Neon closes".

"So this was around the time of his murder?"

"Yes".

"What would a reverend be doing up and about at two in the morning?"

"Last rites?" Horatio guessed, shrugging, "I honestly don't know".

"That whole story sounds a little farfetched".

"I thought so too, but so much of it has been confirmed by the accident report. We couldn't charge him with anything so we had to let him go".

"This is ridiculous! You couldn't get him on _anything?!_"

"I'm sorry, Mac," Horatio said exasperated, "But we did everything we could".

"It's not enough!" Mac shouted. Realizing that he had raised his tone he quickly calmed down. "What was he even on CDUS for to begin with?"

"Being drunk in public, noted for hostility".

Mac stood up and began pacing around the room. Horatio watched as he tried to think of yet another angle to go at this case. Detective Taylor was fuming, he came all the way to Miami to fail to catch a killer and be lectured by Horatio.

"Why couldn't you catch him?!" Mac demanded suddenly, making Horatio jump.

"You had seven chances to catch a killer and we got farther than you ever did!" Horatio snapped, rising out of his chair and storming over to Mac.

"You're letting a guilty man walk away!"

"He'll slip up, I know he will".

"How many more people have to die before you can put him away?"

"Well when it becomes more than six then you can start questioning my procedure".

"Are you questioning mine?"

"Should I?" Horatio hissed, staring Mac down, "because from what I have seen, you tend to _react_ more than respond".

"This isn't about the case anymore is it?"

"What you did to Rick is unforgiveable".

"I can't believe this, Horatio!" Mac growled, turning to leave, "that's it; I'm going back to New York. And I expect to be called when he pops up again".

"That's fine with me," Horatio said, shoving the case file at the detective's chest.

Horatio watched Mac tear out of the office and down the hall. The team had been called to a fresh crime scene, unrelated to the reverend's death. The building looked so empty. All the better that nobody saw he and Mac's argument.


	11. Rain Delay

Thank you for the review, daxy (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, wolfsong98, lausi_gm, and tbsavafob (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Eleven: Rain Delay**

Detective Mac Taylor quietly grumbled to himself as he rode the elevator down to the first floor.

_I should have expected Horatio to be so hostile. I can't believe this. One little misunderstanding just snowballed out of control. If he would have just trusted me to begin with then none of this would have happened. We would still be talking and his Rick wouldn't be so "scarred"._

Ding. First Floor: Police Department.

_I shouldn't try to dismiss this though,_ Mac thought as he stepped off the elevator. _ I know that Horatio has killed for less. I know how vengeful he can get. Wait. Why am I trying to scare myself? He wouldn't kill a CSI. He knew he couldn't get away with it. But yet, nobody knows of his motives except for myself and Rick… whatever, I just need to get back to New York and try to figure out if my friendship with Horatio could ever be mended._

At that moment a blinding flash flooded Miami, roaring as it tumbled over the city. The raging storm that Mac had previously tuned out now had his undivided attention. The soft rainfall from this morning turned into something resembling a monsoon. Raindrops the size of large grapes pounded against the glass walls of the building. The sky was a greenish grey, the sun no longer visible. The palm trees across the street bowed in the wake of the merciless wind that tore at their fronds.

Mac stared out the glass door like he was looking at the apocalypse. Of course it stormed in New York, but he never felt so… attacked before. Mac checked his watch. His plane left in a half hour.

"Can I help you, Detective Taylor?"

Mac spun around, looking over at the receptionist who addressed him.

"I'm fine," Mac chuckled, "I just have a plane to catch soon".

"Okay, but I can tell you right now that no plane will be leaving or landing in Miami any time soon".

"Oh… well… how long do these downpours usually last?"

"'Usually'?" Liz laughed, "I've never seen anything this bad outside of a hurricane. I could check the weather report for you if you want".

"That would be very helpful," Mac nodded, "thank you".

Liz spun around in her chair to her computer. Mac waited patiently as she pulled up the weather and scanned the page for a few moments.

"They're predicting this to last well into tonight".

"What?!" Mac gasped, running around the counter and into the receptionist's area.

He felt his heart sink. He was stuck in Miami with a serial killer and Horatio until the storm could die down. But maybe…

"Can I check my flight on here?"

"Go ahead," she said, getting up.

Mac opened up the airline's website and confirmed his fears. The flight was delayed indeterminately.

"Oh," Liz pitied, "I'm sorry, Mac".

"I'll be alright", Mac sighed, "I just need to find a hotel around here".

"I'm sure Lieutenant Caine would let you stay with him for the night".

_Oh God, no._

"No," Mac said after a brief hesitation, "I don't want to cause him any trouble".

"I'm sure he won't mind," Liz smiled, picking up the phone.

"There's really no need to-"

"-oh don't be so modest," she said as he dialed, "The lieutenant is very hospitable".

***

Horatio sat slouched over his desk. His mind was a blur with thoughts of Rick, Mac, and the case. All he wanted was to go home and relax, but after checking on Rick one last time; the New York detective's presence really put him on edge. Horatio checked his watch, the day was nearly out, and because of the lack of cases all the paperwork was already in order. He decided to go home early.

He slipped out of his office about twenty minutes earlier than usual and crept up the back stairway to the third floor. He moved swiftly through the opaque halls of the IAB; he never managed to attract much attention up there in the first place, but he was ever cautious. Rick's office was at the end of the hall, surrounded by IAB agents who kept to themselves and didn't come out of their offices very much. IAB agents tended to be of low self-esteem and weren't very social creatures; which was quite fortunate for Horatio and Rick.

The redheaded lieutenant knocked and cautiously entered Rick's office; an invitation no longer needed. Rick was packing up for the day, himself; pulling things together in his briefcase. The man looked a wreck, dark circles under his eyes and a slumped posture. All of Rick's 52 years began to show in his features. Horatio knew how paranoid Rick could get, to think that he must have been on edge all day… he must be exhausted from worrying that much. To top it all off, it was doubtful that he would be getting any sleep that night.

"Hi sexy," Horatio smiled, hoping to cheer Rick up.

Rick smiled at Horatio's casualness, "Hey there".

"How you feeling?" Horatio asked soothingly, approaching Rick and letting the door swing shut behind him.

"Really tired but at the same time really anxious… it's strange".

Horatio pulled Rick into a gentle embrace and held him there. The sergeant could feel the tension in his body drift away the longer he was kept in his lover's arms. He sighed contentedly into Horatio's neck, kissing him softly.

"Would I be too much trouble asking to spend the night with you?" Rick whispered, "I mean, I know we spent all weekend together… but… the circumstances being as they are…"

"It's no trouble at all. Of course you can, Rick," his lover answered, "in fact, I came up here to ask you the same thing".

"Thank you".

The two men cuddled each other for one moment longer before Horatio's cell phone rang, interrupting them.

"Don't answer it," Rick murmured into Horatio's neck.

"I have to, shift's not over yet".

He picked up the phone, checking the caller ID. It was the front desk. Figuring that it was Frank or Kyle he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Lieutenant Caine?" Liz chirped from the other end of the line.

"Liz, how can I help you?"

"Well," she chuckled, "he says he doesn't want to trouble you, but given the current weather conditions, Detective Taylor wonders if you could provide him with a place to spend the night. His flight has been delayed until tomorrow. You have an extra room for him, right?"

Rick watched his lover's face slowly turn to an expression of concern, although he himself wasn't quite sure what was happening on the other end of the line.

"Um… Yeah, that's… that's fine Liz," Rick heard Horatio say, "Yes... Yes, I'll meet him down there… Thank you… Goodbye".

"Who was that?"

"Liz from the front desk," Horatio answered as he hung up, "Mac's flight has been moved to tomorrow due to the rain. She was asking me if he could stay at my place until he can catch the next plane".

"And you said 'yes'?! Horatio! What-"

"-Relax. I'm driving him to the hotel a few blocks away and then am going straight home. I just have to keep up appearances for the rest of the lab. You just wait fifteen minutes instead of ten before you follow me in your car".

"But what if-"

"-If you still get there before I do, you can let yourself in, I shouldn't be too long" Horatio said, looking into Rick's soft brown eyes, "Don't worry, we'll be fine".

"I know it's foolish," Rick said as he turned his face away, "I mean… he has no reason for wanting to… to rape me again. It was a misunderstanding to begin with…"

"You're not foolish at all, Rick," Horatio said, taking Rick's face in his hands, "You're not foolish at all".

"Horatio, I… I don't want him to hurt you".

"Rick, If Mac has a brain in his skull he should know better than to cross me once more".

Horatio pulled Rick into another embrace, kissing his neck and shoulders.

"I'm sorry," the redhead said between nips and kisses, "that today… has been… so… hard for you". Rick smiled, leaning into his lover's assault. "And… I don't… want… you… to worry… about me. Got it?"

Rick broke away, looking down dearly into his lover's comforting blue eyes. Horatio had always gone so far to protect the ones he loved dearest, Rick was no exception. All Horatio ever wanted was a family to love and to die for; his father killing that dream from a young age. It has been, and so it shall always be, that we are driven to love most what we cannot have. Horatio feared that maybe he was supposed to spend his life alone; he had a fair amount of blood on his hands as he tried to keep that nightmare from becoming a reality.

"Please don't do anything rash," Rick pleaded softly, taking Horatio's hands in his.

"He has no idea of the hell he put you through".

"That is to be expected," he sighed, kissing his lover's fingertips, "I love you, Horatio… weather you get revenge or not. And for your sake, I would prefer if you didn't".


	12. Complications

Thank you for the reviews, my anonymous reader, HoratioCraver101, vivalavidaa, Prisca512, daxy, and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, maldeluxx, ktrisha, and lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Twelve: Complications**

The rain continued to beat down on the city of Miami as Horatio and Mac entered the parking garage. Mac raised his eyebrows at Horatio's black convertible; he never had the opportunity to spend quality time with the Miami lieutenant, so he didn't know what to expect that he drove. It was strange to him, before the holiday in the mountains he and Horatio had always gotten along quite well. If the cases didn't always lead him back to New York the two of them might have spent the weekend together. In fact, Horatio suggested that whenever they used to meet up. He used to be so open and close to Mac.

Horatio opened up the car, letting Mac and himself in. He could hardly believe the fact that in the past he wanted to get into a romantic relationship with Detective Taylor. And if it was Mac he shared the cabin with instead of Rick, he probably would have. In fact, if Mac hadn't been so rash in his judgments and actions he still would have been teasing the possibility in his mind.

"I'm dropping you off at a hotel close to the airport," Horatio said sternly as he started up the ignition.

"That's fine by me", Mac said, crossing his arms and glaring out the window.

Horatio pulled out and into the tempest. The radio that he often has blaring was silenced, only the brutal pounding of rain against the windshield could be heard above the brooding anger between the two men. The traffic was slow, and what was usually a fifteen minute drive was turning into something much longer. The silence was really starting to get to Mac

"I fucked up," he said bluntly, still avoiding eye contact with Horatio.

He listened cautiously past the rain for any acknowledgement. He honestly didn't want to have such tension between them. Mac wasn't sure what he was asking for; he knew he couldn't regain Horatio's friendship or trust.

Horatio sighed deeply before he responded, "no… shit".

"I thought he was hurting you, Horatio," Mac whispered, "I just wanted him to stop. If you would have seen me in your position you would have thought the same thing. Although I know you would have been more sensible".

Horatio stayed silent, Mac was right. If he would have seen Mac gagged and cuffed to a bed being sexually dominated by someone who he spent about an hour declaring a violent and heartless person… he would have come to the same conclusion that Mac did. He wasn't quite sure himself of what he would have done to the hypothetical other man, but he knew he would have wanted to inflict a severe amount of damage.

"What's your point?" Horatio asked darkly.

"My point is that I never intended to hurt you or anyone you care about".

The ride went on in silence for a few minutes, each man in thought. Horatio was the first to break the silence.

"Are you sure you didn't do what you did because I was with a man? How much did that play into your actions, Mac?"

"What?"

"Are you sure you didn't react to some sort of hostility towards me because you thought I was straight and was proven wrong?"

The detective was taken aback. He had never in his life felt any anger or confusion for someone because of their sexual orientation. He had never felt to be completely straight, himself.

"Horatio," Mac said softly, the hurt audible in his voice, "I would never think anything like that".

Lieutenant Caine bit his lip in thought. He didn't mean to insult Mac at all; he just wanted to find the motive behind such physical hostility. The exact reasons as to why Horatio wanted to make peace with Mac were sketchy, even to himself. Sure, dealing with a case that flew in from NYC would be a lot easier if they weren't so distracted. But should he ever come close to finding a truce with Mac after what he did to Rick?

"Hey," Horatio whispered after a long pause, "I didn't mean you any offence. I'm just trying to sort this all out".

Horatio reached down and turned on the sound system, soft rock flowing forth from the speakers. Mac turned his attention away from Horatio and focused on the palm trees lining the expressway. The roads were clear once they got out of downtown, the airport quickly approaching. But as they got closer to the hotel more and more cars blocked the road for them, all driving in the same direction. Crowds of people with umbrellas and rain coats wandered along the sidewalks, also in the same direction.

"What the hell?" Horatio quietly wondered as he finally was able to pull up in front of the DoubleTree Miami Airport Hotel.

"Um… Horatio," Mac cautiously started, looking at the mobs of people, "I really don't think I'll be able to get a room here".

"And I think you're right," Horatio said, stopping in front of the revolving doors and looking into the brightly lit lobby. "I'm going in with you, see what's going on".

The two rushed into the hotel and were greeted by an enormous sign that read "_**Welcome to Florida Supercon 2013!**_" Although the sign wasn't really necessary, there were a small army of people in brightly colored and interestingly cut costumes saying the exact same thing.

"Oh God," Mac groaned, dropping his face into his palm, "an anime convention".

"Well… there _might_ be a room left," Horatio sighed, hope already gone.

They approached the front desk, wading though crowds of people with fake swords and spiky hair. A young woman looked up from her computer and smiled at them.

"Hi there," she smiled, "did you have questions about the convention?"

"Not really, I was wondering if you have any rooms available".

"Sorry, we're completely full. In fact, I can't think of any hotel around here that has any vacancies, this is the biggest turn-out I have ever seen. Not to mention that everyone from the wedding reception we held last night is stuck here until the storm blows over. I'd like to help you guys out, but nobody really knows how to handle such a situation".

"It's alright," Horatio nodded, "thanks for your time".

Horatio stepped back from the counter and started making his way to a secluded corner of the lobby. Mac followed him, not quite sure what he was up to. The redhead's brow furrowed in thought as he stepped into the shadows, contemplating his next move. It took a few moments before he looked up at Mac.

"I can't just leave you here," Horatio sighed.

"Thank you".

The lieutenant took a deep breath before he continued, "You could stay at my place if you want".

"Do I have any other options?"

"I'm afraid not".

Horatio took out his phone and began dialing Rick. The number of people gathering in the lobby waiting for their friends was beginning to grow. It was becoming harder and harder to keep their conversation just between the two of them. Mac moved in close to Horatio so they could have some privacy.

"Hello, Rick?" Horatio called into his cell.

"Horatio? Where are you?" Rick's voice came in from the other line.

"I'm at the DoubleTree, but that's not important right now. Look, every airport hotel is filled and the roads are starting to get dangerous. We're running out of options".

"You don't mean-".

"I'm afraid I do".

Mac was slowly moving in closer and closer to Horatio, they were soon but mere inches apart. Mac looked down onto Horatio's concerned expression. There were few people who he ever saw as so protective. And although he never admitted it to anyone, he had always imagined what it would be like to form something more than a friendship with Horatio.

"Horatio," Rick said softly into the phone, "I wanted to… be with you tonight".

"You still can, Rick. You still can. Mac can sleep on the couch and we'll be upstairs with the door locked".

"Horatio…"

"I won't leave your side for a moment, Rick. You'll be safe".

Rick hesitated, considering his options. In this time Horatio looked up, seeing the distance between himself and Mac was almost closed. Detective Taylor looked down into Horatio's bright crystal blue eyes, leaning in towards him slightly. Horatio wanted to back away, but he couldn't. He felt he knew what would happen, and as much as it could complicate things, part of him still wanted Mac.

"Alright," Rick finally agreed

"Thank you, Rick. You just sit tight; I'll be there in about twenty minutes".

"I love you, Horatio".

"I love you too, Rick. Everything will be alright, I promise".

They bid each other farewell and hung up. Horatio dropped his hand to place the cell phone back in his pocket, but he didn't move much else. He let his eyes drift up to meet Mac's, as gray as Athena's.

"Rick agreed to let you stay the night," Horatio whispered.

"I heard," Mac said, leaning in even closer to Horatio.

"Mac," the redhead whispered with unsteady breath, "I know what you're thinking". Mac looked softly down on Horatio, wanting to snake his arms around the lieutenant's waist. "Don't do it, Mac. Nothing can change what has happened".

"I know," Mac sighed, leaning down and bringing his lips within a hair's breadth of Horatio's, "What's done cannot be undone".

Slowly, Mac brought their lips together and wrapped his arms around the redhead. He pulled the other man towards him possessively. A shiver traveled down the redhead's spine as fingers laced into his hair as his lip was sucked into Mac's mouth. Horatio's eyes drifted shut and his hands floated up to the other man's hips.

_No! _Horatio's mind cried at him,_ No no no no no! Why are you letting him do this? Stop!_

_I can't… I want to, but I can't_.

After a long moment, Mac broke the kiss and slowly released Horatio. The Miami lieutenant slowly drew in a shaky breath and turned his head away, not quite sure of what to do next. Mac turned and led them back to the car, still sitting in front of the hotel doors. Horatio let them in, sitting down at the wheel. He could hardly think.

_Rick… I'm so sorry._


	13. Regret

Thank you for the reviews, my anonymous reader, HoratioCraver101, vivalavidaa, Duckies, bran4ever, Prisca512, and daxy (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, tbsavafob6, maldeluxx, lausi_gm, and Wolfsong98 (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Thirteen: Regret**

Rick nervously paced back and forth across Horatio's kitchen. His lover sounded quite weary on the phone, something Rick could never get used to. The three of them hadn't been alone together since the night in the mountains when Mac had taken advantage of him. The memories sent a chill through his body.

The physical scars that Mac had placed on him ran up and down the underside of his arms and across his upper back. The wounds themselves weren't in any place that Rick could easily see; he often forgot that he had them. Horatio, on the other hand, would be seeing them much more often. He could remember lying by Horatio's side just the other day, feeling his lover's lips softly brush over each scar. They haunted him more than they did Rick.

The brunette's eyes had settled on Horatio's kitchen knives. Nervously he reached out and took one, looking over the blade carefully. He ran his fingers over the flat steel dulled side of the blade in thought. Horatio promised him protection, but Mac had gotten around that once before.

Stepping off of the cold white tiles of the kitchen, Rick walked across the living room and up the stairs to his lover's bedroom. Everything was so soft and white; Rick loved how peaceful it always felt. His hands slid over the left nightstand, the side of the bed that he slept on. He pulled open the drawer and put the knife down beside the lube, white fur handcuffs, and light reading.

Feeling a little safer, Rick lay down on the bed and wrapped the blankets around himself. He smiled softly at his own photograph. Horatio asked for one the first chance he got once they had returned to Miami. Rick had never seen himself as very photogenic; he actually had to go to a photography studio to get something that he saw as remotely close to worthy of gifting.

It was actually pretty nice the more he looked at it. Rick wore the same outfit he did for the retreat, complete with the coat and red scarf. He showed off his right side, his good side, the side with the naturally occurring and quite fashionable mole under his eye. The classic Stetler smirk had crossed his lips, something that Horatio had later admitted to always finding kind of sexy.

The thought that his was the last face Horatio saw each night before falling asleep thrilled him. A few months ago he would have been absolutely convinced that he would have to spend his life alone. He only dared dream that he and Horatio could be together. And now for him to mean so much, it was so beautifully perfect.

***

Horatio and Mac pulled into the driveway. The ride had been a long awkward silence between the two of them. Horatio pulled the key out of the ignition, but signaled for Mac not to get out.

"Mac," Horatio sighed, "what happened between us… didn't".

"It did, Horatio," Mac said softly, "You wanted it to".

"No, I didn't. I feel nothing like that towards you".

"You're too good for Rick, Horatio. Don't think your team didn't tell me how he constantly harasses them. You wouldn't have wanted him… something must have happened. What did he do to make you think you love him? There was a reason you hated him before, H. Don't you remember it?"

"I remember it," Horatio said darkly, "It was because I didn't know who he really was. Which was the same reason why I ever called you a friend".

"Even so," Mac smirked, Horatio's comment rolling off him, "I know that you would let me kiss you again if the opportunity arises".

"What's gotten into you, Mac?"

"It's just that I know what you want now, what Rick is to you. You're just holding onto him for the sex. You're afraid to tell anyone else about your kink. Rick discovered it by accident, didn't he? Because he's just violent with you. He's able to fulfill a sexual desire… and that's about it".

"I love him".

"The kind of sex you have with him can't possibly be healthy".

"This conversation is over," Horatio snapped decisively, getting out of the car.

"Horatio," Mac sighed, opening the car door, "this conversation has hardly begun".

***

Rick stirred at the sound of the front door opening; he barely even noticed that he fell asleep curled up on Horatio's bed. He sat up and turned on the light, a little unsure if he should proceed downstairs unarmed. Sitting there for a few moments, he looked over at the nightstand, wondering if he should take the blade with him… just in case. Nervously he decided against it and stepped out into the hall.

"Rick?" Horatio called from the doorway, "Where are you?"

"Up here," Rick softly replied from the upstairs balcony overlooking the living room.

Clutching onto the balcony railing Rick felt his heart quicken its pace. Watching Mac and Horatio walk in together made him nauseous with anxiety. Horatio said that he would never have to see Mac again. He had the nagging suspicion that with this subject he would be pushing his luck to believe his lover; but always hoped that he wasn't.

Horatio lead Mac inside, closing the door behind them.

"I think we should turn in early," Horatio said, checking his watch, "Did you grab a bite to eat, Rick?" Rick nodded, still not wanting to go downstairs. "Good, I'll just fix something for Mac and myself and I'll join you upstairs. Okay?"

Nodding again, Rick ducked back into Horatio's bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"Just stuffing him back into your bedroom until you're ready to play with him?" Mac asked mockingly.

Without warning Horatio grabbed Mac by his collar, slamming him against the wall. Detective Taylor put his hands out, signaling the redhead to calm down. Grabbing his adversary's wrists Horatio overpowered him and threw him to the ground, kicking him once for good measure.

"Listen to me, Mac Taylor, listen well," Lieutenant Caine hissed, grabbing his shirt, "As long as you're in my house you are going to abide by my rules. I don't want you speaking about Rick again. I don't want you looking at Rick again. I don't know why you're trying to pull him away from me, but you're going to stop right now. Have I made myself perfectly clear, Mac?"

Mac let out a ragged breath as he lifted his hands and tried to coax Horatio to let go of him, prying lightly at his fingers.

"Do you understand me, Mac?!"

"Yes! Let go of me!" he pleaded, struggling against Horatio's grasp.

Horatio gave him a long glare before he released Mac's shirt, letting his head drop to the floor. "Fix your own damn supper," Horatio growled, heading for the stairs, "I've lost my appetite".

***

Rick looked up from his book as Horatio opened the door of the bedroom. They gave each other weary smiles as Horatio closed the door and dragged himself in, locking it behind him. Rick stood up and walked over, brushing his lips against Horatio's. A worn smile formed in his eyes as he listened to his lover moan happily.

"Oh Rick," Horatio moaned, pushing the brunette down onto the bed and crawling on top of him, "I need this, Rick, you know I need this".

Wrapping his arms around the redhead, Rick pulled him close and kissed him deeply. "So do I".

Horatio let out a muffled moan as Rick flipped them over, lying himself on top of his lover. Stetler forced his tongue into Horatio's mouth, tasting and probing every inch of it. He laced his fingers into and lightly tugged on the lieutenant's silky red hair. Horatio reached around, placing his hands on the small of Rick's back and stroking him lovingly.

Rick tore at Horatio's shirt, kissing at every inch of newly exposed flesh, working his way down. The redhead beat Rick to his pants, opening them and freeing his rapidly stiffening cock. Rick tugged his lover's pants and boxers off his body, sensuously stroking Horatio's legs.

"I want you," Horatio begged.

"Not until you're ripe for the taking," Rick lightly teased, running his fingers down Horatio's sides.

Lieutenant Caine arched his spine, struggling for more contact. His already hard cock was getting stiffer as Rick worked him over. Rick climbed on top of Horatio, kissing and licking along his jaw line and nibbling at his earlobe. Each miniscule movement of Rick's lips and tongue batted away the anger Horatio felt for Mac, although the guilt and remorse remained. Horatio was breathing heavily as Rick started taking off his own clothes, longing to feel their bare skin rub together.

Rick maneuvered Horatio to the middle of the bed before he slid down his lovers body, his lips willing to take all Horatio had to give him. He licked along the vein of the redhead's pulsating and leaking cock, reaching down and running his talented fingers over Horatio's balls.

"Yes," Horatio gasped, thrusting up at Rick.

"Oh no you don't," Rick bantered, moving his hands to his lover's hips, holding him down.

Horatio whimpered as Stetler took his time with him, wanting to lick every inch of his cock before swallowing him down. It seemed to take forever before Rick took the tip in his lips and began suckling gently. Horatio let out a laugh disguised as a sigh as his higher thoughts began to shut down.

"Yes. Yes, please, Rick," Horatio whispered under his breath, "help me forget".

Horatio arched his spine, digging his head into the pillows as Rick took his cock deep into his mouth. Rick held his lover fast, preventing him from thrusting up into him…yet at least. His tongue played against his lover's heated flesh before he relaxed his throat and took as much of Horatio's dick in his mouth as possible, making him moan loudly.

Hearing his cries made Rick want to give everything he had to Horatio. He rubbed his stiff cock up against his lover's leg. Unable to hold himself back a second longer the redhead came down Rick's throat, biting his lip and released a muted cry.

"Rick… Rick…" Horatio gasped, running his fingers though Rick's hair as he tried to catch his breath.

Stetler lifted his head, letting Horatio slip from his mouth. Gently he kissed and nipped a path back up to Horatio's neck, working his way up to a sensitive point behind his ear. The redhead grasped onto Rick's shoulders, maneuvering him onto his back. He rested his body on top of Rick's, slipping his tongue into the other's mouth. Smoothly, Horatio ran his tongue across Rick's and over his teeth, tasting himself.

Rick moaned lustfully into Horatio's mouth, holding him close and digging his erection into the other man's hip. Lieutenant Caine broke away from Stetler's mouth, moving to his neck and shoulders.

"Horatio," Rick whispered, "oh God, H, let me have you".

The redhead pressed his lips into his lover's shoulder, feeling the younger man's legs slide out from under him and spread. Out of the corner of his eye, Horatio could see a pillow being pulled down from the headboard; and from the way Rick pressed up against him, Horatio knew that it went to prop up his lover's hips.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Horatio murmured into his lover's skin, "it's not too soon?"

He could feel the brunette nod, "Please. Just let me see you and I'll be alright".

Rick closed his eyes and groaned softly as he felt lips travel down his body to where they were most needed.

_Yes. Oh please, Horatio._

_I'll never hurt you again, Rick._

_After what Mac took from me…_

_I'll never forgive him._

_But that's all the past now… right?_

_I'll never forgive myself._

_I love you._

_I love you._

_Horatio?_

_Rick?_

The redhead stopped for a moment, taking the time to look up before he swallowed his lover down. At the same time, Rick sat partway up to get a good look at Horatio. They froze for just an instant as the same thought passed through their minds.

_Please… help me forget._


	14. Nightmares

Thank you for the reviews, my two anonymous readers, Duckies, daxy, and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, tbsavafob6, maldeluxx, and lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Fourteen: Nightmares**

Horatio stroked Rick's hair lovingly; the other man had fallen asleep on his chest a few hours ago, Stetler's arm draped over his stomach. Horatio smiled to himself, _I could get used to sleeping in Rick's embrace_. Carefully, the redhead slipped out of Rick's loving hold, not wanting to wake him as he crawled out of the bed.

Horatio had seen the knife when he reached into Rick's drawer earlier that night. He didn't bring it up, he knew what it was for. And as much as he despised Mac for what he did, he didn't want Rick to do anything too rash.

Desperately wanting it out of the bedroom, Horatio removed the knife and pulled on his robe.

As quietly as he could, the redhead made his way downstairs, making sure to skip over the one step that creaks. The moonlight bathed the house in a mysterious blue glow, just bright enough for Horatio to see. His feet drifted across the cold tiles of his kitchen, making his way to the counter and replacing the blade.

His mind a little more at ease, Horatio let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding.

"A knife, huh?" Detective Taylor whispered from behind him, "Where did you let him cut you?" The lieutenant spun around, looking into Mac's silhouette. "I can't let him hurt you this way, Horatio".

"He wasn't hurting me, Mac," the redhead hissed, "He brought the knife upstairs to protect himself from you".

***

Rick woke up with a start, pulling himself out of a nightmare. It was a reoccurring horror that played out in his unconscious mind ever since the rape.

_He was back in the mountains, the other man behind him. The memories of sheer terror as Mac forced himself upon Rick, slashing at his skin with a jackknife. Horatio would open the door to Rick's prison. _

"_Don't worry, Rick," He would whisper from the doorway, "I love you anyway". _

"_Please Horatio," Rick would sob, "make him stop"._

_Without another word Horatio would turn and walk off, leaving the two. Rick would cry out helplessly for his lover until Mac finally tries to slit his throat. That was when he always woke up._

He never told Horatio about the dream, but he figured he probably should one day.

Rick felt around in the bed for his lover, only to find himself to be alone. He sat up, looking for a light seeping out from under the door of the master bath. There wasn't one. Turning on the light on the bedside table, Rick opened the drawer to see that the knife was gone. There was no doubt in his mind that Horatio saw it last night. There was also no doubt in Rick's mind that the knife's presence bothered his lover.

He sat in thought for a moment or two before he decided to go find Horatio, despite him being unarmed. Pulling on his robe, he opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway.

***

"He doesn't need protection from me, Horatio," Mac whispered, following the other man into the living room, "You need protection from him".

"I love him," Horatio growled, annoyed at Mac's ignorance.

"That doesn't mean he's good for you".

***

Rick slowly approached the railing, hearing voices from the room below him. He watched in silence was Mac and Horatio moved through the living room. His eyes widened as Mac took Horatio by the shoulders and backed him into the wall.

"I know you want me, Horatio," Rick heard Mac say softly, "And I've wanted you".

Rick felt the jealousy in his blood begin to boil once again, as it did earlier with Natalia… but this was worse than he possibly thought it could. His eyes turned fierce and his nails, like talons, dug into the railing. A tightness that started in his chest swarmed throughout his entire body like locusts over a field. He felt like the air around him was on fire, and that he could lift the two men with the sheer will of his mind. But at the same time he was terribly afraid of what will happen, both if he broke the moment and if he didn't.

"I did want you," Horatio admitted, "but that was a long time ago".

Rick blinked furiously, an attempt to chase Horatio's words from his mind and to hold back tears. Horatio had told him once that he had been attracted to a number of men in the past; he listed Mac as one of them. That was, of course, before the incident. But no matter what Mac did, that didn't change the fact that Horatio did at one time feel something for him.

"Everyone you have loved as been taken away from you or has let you down, how will Rick hurt you?"

"Rick wouldn't hurt me"

"The scratches on your chest tell a different story," Mac pointed out, opening Horatio's robe to expose his chest and get a full frontal view of him.

Rick's jaw dropped as Mac ran his hand over the redhead's chest. At times Rick could get a little too rough with Horatio in bed, he knew that. If Horatio didn't admit that he enjoyed getting scratched at, hit, and having his hair pulled during sex, Rick would have stopped. But such was not the case.

Horatio's body rested against the wall, he looked quietly up into the detective's steel eyes, "Stop, Mac".

"Let me kiss you again".

'_Again'?_

The word echoed in Rick's mind. The mind games that Mac unknowingly played on Rick often felt worse than the actual rape. That he could escape from, he did escape from. But his mind held him in complete torment from day to day. And now this…

Mac cupped Horatio's face in one hand, the other slipping under his robe and around his bare waist. Horatio let their bodies be drawn together, lost in Mac's eyes. His lips parted slightly as his jaw went slack, watching his soul battle his inner daemons. He was torn more than he knew he ought to be, but torn none the less.

Silently, Rick let his body fall to the floor. He leaned against the wall and grasped onto the railing's bars. He felt the color drain from his face and the tears well up behind his eyes. His breath was caught in his throat as he watched in horror.

_Did you honestly believe that Horatio wouldn't want someone better than you?_ Rick's mind whispered to him. _You should have known better. I told you that you weren't good enough. If you could have ever changed from the selfish bastard you are then things may have been different. But you didn't, so they aren't. You made him break your heart, Rick. You left him no choice._

Horatio shyly turned his face away, not wanting to believe the things he was feeling. Mac caught his chin and locked a gaze with him. He leaned down half way to Horatio, his lips inviting the other man to complete the deed once more.

"No…no," Rick whispered helplessly to himself, "Horatio, please don't. I love you".

_He doesn't care. Nobody ever did._

Horatio closed his eyes and drew in a shaky breath

_Some people just aren't meant to be loved. I always knew you were one of them._

"That's not true," Rick silently retorted to his own mind, "It can't be".

_But you know it is._

Looking up into Mac's half-lidded eyes, Horatio moistened his lips.

"Oh God, please don't let this happen," Rick gasped, a tear rolling down his cheek.

_Go ahead and cry for yourself. Nobody else is going to cry for you. Cry and weep and moan over your lost love, the love you never really had._

The redhead began to slowly and nervously lean in towards Mac.

_Horatio hates you._

"Horatio loves me," Rick said quietly, although he felt completely helpless.

_He wishes he never met you._

"No," Horatio said decisively as he broke away from Mac, closing his robe.

Rick breathed again, but still felt a little weary. He stood up and backed into the shadows of the hallway as Horatio started across the room and back upstairs.

"We could have had something together," Mac called after Horatio, who was making his way to the stairs.

"You're right," the redhead nodded, "we could have".

"But Rick took that from us," Detective Taylor growled, the frustration audible in his voice.

"No, Mac" Horatio sighed, turning away, "you did that".

Lieutenant Caine ascended the stairs, leaving the desires of an old life behind him. He would admit, he never found moving on in this manner to be at all easy. More often than not he would make definite closure if it wasn't presented to him. This end felt a little anticlimactic, but he was already well into a new life with Rick. In all honesty, that was all he needed.

He looked down the hallway and into Rick's figure, leaning against the wall. Horatio knew at that moment that he had heard and seen everything.

"Rick," Horatio gasped, running to his side, "Rick, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Rick lied turning his face away.

Horatio led them into his bedroom, sitting Rick down next to him on the bed. The moon was full and shone brighter into their room than any place downstairs. The silver teardrops were visible on Rick's cheeks. The redhead pulled him into an embrace.

"There's nothing I can say to fully apologize for what you have just seen," Horatio whispered into Rick's shoulder, "but I wish there was".

"It's okay, Horatio".

"No it isn't," Lieutenant Caine whispered as he wiped one of Rick's tears away, "You deserve better than that".

"I do?"

"Of course you do… Rick… you're the best thing that's ever happened to me," he whispered with a soft smile. Horatio brushed his lips over Rick's in an innocent kiss. "I love you, Rick. With all my heart".


	15. Victims

Thank you for the reviews, Duckies, BoyyM, HoratioCraver101, Prisca512, daxy, and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, maldeluxx, and lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Fifteen: Victims**

Mac poured himself a cup of coffee as he watched the sun rise over the ocean. He fiddled with the handle of the mug in thought. None of this was supposed to happen. It's just that sometimes his jealousy gets the better of him.

He never meant to take advantage of Horatio, but he never before knew that he was capable of seducing him so much. If he had just acknowledged what he felt towards the lieutenant before the trip to the mountains, then they could have been together. It wasn't until he saw Horatio letting Rick dominate him that he realized how much he wanted the redhead's body. He was unspeakably jealous of the relationship Rick was able to have with Horatio. All he wanted in those few crucial minutes was to take everything away from the sergeant that he could. And he did. And not a day has passed since it happened that he hasn't been able to live in regret.

Footfalls were heard coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mac turned around to see Horatio walk in. The redhead poured himself a cup of coffee and leaned against the wall. The two stood in complete silence on their opposite sides of the room. The only sound was of the waves rolling up against the beach and the palm fronds billowing in the morning wind.

"I'm driving you to the airport in twenty minutes," Horatio finally said, breaking the silence.

Mac nodded, he knew that now his relationship with Horatio was beyond repair. The only thing he could really do now was be polite and speak only when spoken to. He didn't want to anger Horatio any more than he already had. He just listened to the redhead dump his coffee mug into the sink, leave the kitchen, and go upstairs.

***

Rick woke up with the feeling of soft lips brushing over his cheek. His eyes blinked open and he looked up at a fully clothed Horatio hovering over him.

"Did I oversleep?" Stetler yawned, reaching up to play with his lover's hair.

"Not at all," Horatio smiled, kissing him again, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm taking Mac to the airport now. He'll be gone soon, Rick. We can get back to our lives together".

The brunette gave his lover a tired smile, "I hope so".

He was kissed once more before Horatio straitened up, "I'll see you around the office, Rick. I don't want Mac to miss his flight out of here".

"Alright," Rick sighed sleepily, settling back into bed.

Horatio pulled on the brunette's arm, sitting him up. "Oh no you don't. We haven't been going together long, but I know you well enough," he grinned, "If you don't get up now, you never will".

Grumbling, Rick pulled himself out of bed and onto his feet. He pressed his nude body against Horatio's finely clothed form, wrapping his arms about him and kissing him deeply. The lieutenant let his hands wander over the sweet crevices of Rick's body, moaning happily into his mouth. Stetler sighed as the soft Miami breeze from the open window rolled over his backside and his front rubbed against the wool silk of Horatio's suit.

Rick's hands wandered around his lover's body, holding them together in a tight embrace. He was afraid last night that he came much too close to losing him. Rick needed the lieutenant to know that he had already completely given himself to this relationship. It simply had to work… he needed it to.

After a long moment, Rick pulled away, looking almost sadly into his lovers sky blue eyes. Horatio knew what was passing through Rick's mind; it was the same ache that he felt last night after seeing he and Mac…

The redhead sighed and pulled Rick in to another kiss, deep and passionate. His tension drifted away as he felt the other man nearly melt in his arms. Horatio's talented lips left those of his lover and began leaving a moist and hot trail down his jawline.

"Sorry love," Horatio whispered into Stetler's ear after spending a moment to suck on his neck, raising a mark, "but I really am in a hurry. If you want to spend the night with me again, I welcome you to".

"Is that just your way of saying you want me to stay here for a little while?"

"Only if you want to," Horatio smiled before he looked away and whispered softly, "and after what you saw last night, I would understand if you wouldn't".

Rick leaned in and brushed his lips against Horatio's once more in a chaste kiss. "I'd love to spend the night over here again". Horatio smiled weakly at that. "How about you pick up a movie and I'll swing by the grocery store and grab us some take out?"

"I'd like that".

"But I'd be happy doing anything with you, Horatio".

The redhead smiled and ducked his head again, "and I you. But seriously, Rick. I have to get going. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Alright".

Horatio looked Rick over as the younger man pulled on a robe. "I love you".

Rick turned his face away for only a split second, sighing sadly before he turned back, "I love you too, Horatio".

The redhead smiled gently and gave a slight wave before he closed the bedroom door behind him. Rick sighed again, looking at the air his lover once occupied.

"… with all my heart".

***

The airport was in sight. Frankly, Mac couldn't want anything more than to just get back to New York. Horatio kept his eyes locked on the road; he didn't want to exchange a single word with Mac for a long time. He knew what Mac wanted to do to him the night before. Hurt and feeling used, the lieutenant tried to keep his mouth shut as they flew down the express way.

Seemingly out of nowhere, The Who started playing in the car. Horatio's hand flew to his hip, pulling out his phone.

"Hello?" the lieutenant answered, "What?!... Yeah… Yeah, he's still-… Of course… Yes, I'll be right there. Thank you, Eric".

He hung up and pulled onto the perpendicular expressway, driving away from the airport.

"Where are we going?"

"Your serial killer struck again, we're going to Palm Island".

"So soon? He usually waits a few weeks between-"

"-well, this time he didn't," Horatio snapped; more time with Mac was really the last thing he wanted.

***

"What have we got?" Horatio asked Eric as he ducked under the yellow tape surrounding the crime scene.

The body was found in the swimming pool of one of the waterside mansions. The pool's owners sat on the back porch, each being questioned by an officer. The pool was walled off on three sides, two by dense strips of palm trees and ferns that separated the backyards of the houses, and one by the house itself. The path of least resistance would come from the ocean. Calleigh was busy photographing evidence markers and Ryan was poking around at the docks.

"Same as yesterday, H," Eric responded, nodding a hello to Mac, "Prof. Daniel Nowest: killed at around four o'clock this morning… multiple stab wounds, broken wrists-"

"-'Professor'?" Mac asked, cocking his head.

"of theology at University of Miami".

"Sounds like our killer," Horatio nodded.

Calleigh put down her camera and greeted Horatio and Mac.

"The owners are being questioned," she said, "but I'm pretty sure they're just innocent bystanders. They aren't even religious; they only were able to identify the body because they used to play golf together".

"I'm sure the family had nothing to do with the late professor's murder," Horatio nodded, "but the best killers have been known to hide in plain sight. Take advantage of every available opportunity".

"We're pretty sure that our killer came by boat," Ryan said, walking up to the group from the dock, "There's some navy blue transference against the pier, and the household only has white boats".

"I'll get in the water," Eric volunteered, "on the off-chance that our killer may have dropped something".

"Sounds good," Horatio said, sending Eric off to grab his diving equipment, "Calleigh, where's Natalia?"

"She's taking care of some floater in the 'glades".

"That's fine, but she stays off this case. Given the circumstances, Paul is still our main suspect. You've done well, Mr. Wolfe, but we need someone back at HQ. If you've done everything that needs doing, I request that you pack up your evidence and get started processing. No offence, but we have enough hands on this case".

"None taken, H," Ryan nodded, despite him being with the team for about a decade, he was still used to being treated like the newbie, "let me just grab my kit".

"Thank you, Ryan. Oh, and bring in Paul Daemon for questioning".

"Right on it".

Ryan and Calleigh split from the group, leaving Horatio alone with Mac.

"You, stay here. I'm going with Ryan back to HQ", Horatio said, "I need to have a talk with Mr. Daemon".

"What are you bringing him in on?"

"I'm willing to bet that it was his boat that brushed against the dock," Horatio said definitively as he walked back to his car, "I just need to check a few things first".

"How do you even know that he has a boat?" Mac called to Horatio's back, "Horatio!"

***

"Do you know why I brought you back here, Mr. Daemon?" Horatio asked, his low, raspy voice cutting through the silence of the room. "I brought you here, Mr. Daemon, because you murdered Prof. Daniel Nowest".

"This is harassment," Paul griped, "I want my lawyer".

"You're going to need one. Now, tell me, Paul, what were you doing on Palm Island earlier this morning?"

"'Palm Island'? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't insult me like this, Paul, we found traces of paint from your boat on the pier of this house," Horatio said as he threw down a photograph of the house where Prof. Nowest was found.

"That's ridiculous," Paul scoffed, "I share that boat with three other people: Leon Briley, Jim Dexter, and David West. We live in the same apartment complex".

"There were traces of human blood in that boat".

"We're clumsy, and we go fishing. It's rare for one of us to come home without some sort of injury".

"That's interesting, because the boat is in your name and it is hardly a fishing boat".

"What are you going to do? Arrest me for not knowing much about boats? It was the first one I could find and- you know what? This interrogation is over," Paul declared as he stood up, "If you had anything on me, I would be arrested by now".

"Don't go far, Mr. Daemon".

Horatio watched Paul walk off; Frank leaned against the wall and looked over at the redheaded lieutenant.

"So what now?" Frank asked from the window, watching Paul walk out of the building and back onto the streets.

"Now we wait for Eric to finish running trace on the bloodied rag he found under the pier and for Valera to finish the DNA test on the blood we found in the boat. It took us a while to find a sample that hadn't been diluted by last night's rain".

"So we let him walk out of here?"

"For now, yes. There isn't much we can do until all the results are-"

"-Lieutenant Caine! Sergeant Tripp!" Molly cried out, running through the glass hallways of the CSI labs, "Julie Kartz has been shot!"

"Julie?" Frank repeated, "I just transferred her to follow Paul".

"What?" Horatio gasped, "When?"

"This morning," Frank replied.

"She was shot in the parking garage by your suspect," Molly panted, trying to catch her breath, "The wound wasn't lethal though".

"How do you know this?" Horatio asked.

"I was just there, hiding behind my car. I saw everything. But that isn't what I needed to tell you two".

"Then what is?"

"He took Rick".


	16. Truth

Thank you for the reviews, BoyyM, vivalavidaa, Duckies, daxy, and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, ktrisha, lausi_gm, maldelux (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Sixteen: Truth**

Horatio's skin turned cold, his hands trembled and his chest tightened. A breath caught in his throat and his legs grew weak. In his mind's eye he could see his Rick helplessly fighting for freedom against Paul's grip.

"Rick Stetler?" Frank asked, arching an eyebrow.

"What happened?" Horatio stammered, not really wanting to hear it.

"I arrived here about five minutes ago," Molly started, "I parked in my usual parking spot, which happens to be on the opposite side of the isle as Rick's. Anyways, Paul walks into the garage and pulls out a gun. He turns and shoots Julie in the shoulder. He then points the firearm at Rick and orders him to drive them out of town. He obeyed".

"Why the hell didn't Rick try to fight back?" Frank scoffed.

"Because he had a fucking gun pointed at his head!" Horatio yelled, making people from across the lab turn. Mac, who had been going over the evidence with Eric, looked up, seeing a familiar anger cross Horatio's face. "He's not an officer anymore, Frank! He doesn't carry a gun with him to the office!"

Frank took a step back from the lieutenant. Even though he could easily overpower Horatio, he knew that his coworker fights hard and fierce. He wasn't sure what was behind the redhead's anger, but whatever it was, it was best not to toy with it.

"Are we the first people you've told?" Horatio demanded of Molly. She nodded, a little scared of the once calm lieutenant's new disposition. "Frank! Why haven't you fucking- oh forget it! I'll do it myself". Horatio pulled out his cell phone, dialing quickly, "This is Lieutenant Caine. Throw out an alert. A red 2007 Mercury Milan, Florida license plate NCC1701. We have a kidnapping".

He shoved his way past Frank and into the stairwell. He needed to get to the parking garage. He needed to get to the security booth. He needed a clue… any clue. He needed to hold Rick close to him and never let go.

Not knowing what to do or how to handle this, he tried to pick up his last shards of control before he ended up exposing his relationship to the entire department. Everything he knew about criminology was drowning fast in a sea of fear, confusion, and panic that flooded his mind. He could hardly remember how to handle such a situation, but knew that he had to act fast.

"Horatio!" Mac called out, shoving open the metal door, his voice echoing against the metal and concrete of the steps. He ran over to the lieutenant and grabbed his arm firmly, "What the hell is going on?"

Horatio looked up into those cold grey eyes, and in that moment the evidence started falling together. What they felt for each other before all this happened but were too shy to say anything. What Rick had told him that Mac had seen when he walked in on them. How close Mac stood to him when he made the phone call. The kiss… later pulling open his robe… he would have done more if he had the chance. Mac wanted him. He wanted him all to himself. Which meant that he needed Rick out of the way.

"You!" Horatio growled charging up the stairs at Mac and with a hard shove knocking him down onto the concrete landing. "You did this, didn't you?!" Lieutenant Caine shouted, tears filling his eyes. The reverberations that filled the stairwell all mirrored the pain and anger in Horatio's voice a thousand times over. "You motherfucking bastard! I'll kill you!"

"Wait!" Mac choked, trying to regain the breath that had been knocked out of him. His eyes widened as Horatio drew his weapon. "Don't!"

"You're right," Horatio whispered, making Mac back up against the wall, "I should make you suffer. You fucking bastard, you deserve to die".

"Horatio! I had nothing to do with this!"

"Don't lie to me, you little shit!" the anger returned as Horatio tried to strike Mac's knee with the pistol.

Mac grabbed Horatio's wrist before he could hit him and pulled him down onto the cold ground. He sat on Horatio's chest, pinning both arms down and knocking the gun out of his hand.

"No!" the redhead sobbed, struggling under Mac's grip. "I hate you, I fucking hate you".

"Calm down," Mac whispered softly, "You have to think straight".

"I should fucking kill you," Horatio gasped quietly, tears running down the side of his face and soaking his hair.

"Horatio…" Mac said, looking down at the redhead with sad eyes. "Horatio, listen to me, I didn't do this. I couldn't do this. I know how much he means to you. I could never want to see you like this".

"You lying fuck!" Horatio stammered, turning his head to the side and letting the tears that had pooled in his eyes to slide across his face.

"You need to calm down," Detective Taylor sighed gently, "Once you calm down you can help Rick. You can't now; you can barely form a sentence. Take a few deep breaths and ask yourself how I could have even arranged this. I couldn't have, you knew where I was at all times and what I was doing ever since I got here. Someone else did this to Rick, Horatio. I swear upon my wife's grave that I had nothing to do with this".

Horatio let out a shaky breath, ceasing his struggle against Mac's grip. He let his eyes drift shut as he tried to control his breathing. His eyes and head ached from crying, his body desperately needed just a few moments of unconsciousness to recover; but he could never forgive himself if he fell asleep and let Rick slip away. Suddenly, his ice blue eyes flashed open with the realization of what had just happened.

"Natalia, she… she…" he whispered.

"Okay," Mac hummed, getting off of Horatio and pulling a tissue out of his pocket "now we're getting somewhere. Blow your nose and put on your sunglasses, your eyes are bloodshot. Natalia is going in the interrogation chamber, I'll do the talking. You just need to remain calm".

His body unsteady, Horatio slowly rose to his feet. His face was flushed and his lips trembling. He took the tissue and fumbled with his sunglasses, lucky they didn't break during the scuffle.

"I know this isn't easy, Horatio," Mac sighed, helping the other man brush the dirt off his suit, "And I don't like it any more than you do. But for Rick's sake you have to think straight. Okay?"

Straightening up, Horatio nodded, a final tear slipping down his cheek. Mac patted Horatio's shoulder, putting a hand on his back and lightly led him out of the stairwell.

***

"Of course I told Paul about the case," Natalia said, rolling her eyes at Mac's question, "I confide many things to him".

Horatio stared out the window. There were very few moments in his life when he wanted to physically hurt a woman, but Natalia was killing him. This was all her fault, if she hadn't been so naive then Rick wouldn't be in such danger. The redheaded lieutenant bit his lip, keeping himself from breaking down and striking her.

"Did you tell him," Mac pressed on, "that Sergeant Rick Stetler had taken you off the case?"

"Yeah".

Clenching his teeth behind pursed lips, Horatio glared down onto the streets. His body aching and his head throbbing he leaned against the glass wall. Frank and Molly watched him stay eerily still. Frank hadn't the slightest idea what was going on, but Molly did. She saw Horatio sneak into Rick's office; she heard the soft moans they shared and thought they could hide from the world. She wasn't about to expose them though. Seeing her boss and Lieutenant Caine in such a state of peace always made her smile. She couldn't take that away from them.

"And how did Paul react when you told him this?"

"He was pissed, he said that he would see to it that Stetler would never come between us again".

"But, how did Paul know who Rick was or what he looked like?"

"I took a picture".

As soon as Molly read those words leave Natalia's lips she knew she couldn't sit on the sidelines for much longer. She shouldered her way into the interrogation room and rushed to Horatio's side. Tenderly, she took his hand, balled so tightly into a fist that his nails made crescent shaped cuts into his palm. Looking up she saw a tear slide out from under his sunglasses.

"He'll be alright," Molly said softly, holding onto Horatio.

"How do you know?" he asked, his voice shaking and barely audible.

"Because he has you to protect him".

Natalia had handed Mac her phone, he scrolled through it until he finally came across a photograph of Horatio's lover. He placed it back down on the table.

"That's very bold of you, Ms. Boa Vista," Mac noted.

"I'm in love with Paul," she hissed, "Only a soulless bastard will try to keep us apart".

Molly pulled Horatio a little closer, feeling the tension throughout his body.

"I couldn't protect him before," Horatio whispered, "What makes you think I can now?"

She had no idea of the rape; Rick hadn't confided that in her yet. All she saw was what was between them and nothing more. "Because I know you love him".

"Natalia Boa Vista," Mac sighed, "you are under arrest for conspiracy to kidnap Sergeant Rick Stetler".

"I can't believe this," She laughed as two officers began to escort her out of the room, "Horatio, help me out. He got what was coming to him and what he deserved. Everything that bastard did was biased and made specifically to hurt this department. Don't I get justice?"

"Can't Rick?" Horatio sighed softly. But she couldn't hear him as she was taken from the chamber.

***

Eric, Calleigh, and Ryan watched from behind the glass walls of the trace lab as Natalia was lead downstairs to a holding cell.

"Man," Ryan said, bewildered, "I mean, it's not like Stetler didn't piss me off; but Natalia just signed his death warrant".

"Yeah," Calleigh agreed, turning her attention back to the evidence laid out before her, "He could be a jerk, but he doesn't deserve to die. He's given me a lot of crap over the years, but he has just been doing his job".

They watched as Molly hugged their boss before she left to go back up to IAB. Mac walked over and lightly placed a hand on Horatio's shoulder, the two of them whispering. The redhead rubbed his eyes a few times before he nodded and walked Mac back to his office.

"H seems to be taking this pretty hard," Eric noted, "I wonder why".

"I think Stetler and H went to the same college back in New York," Calleigh said, "They could have been friends once. I'm sure they weren't always rivals".

"Or it could be over Natalia," Ryan guessed, "I wonder how many years she'll get for this little stunt".

"Hopefully a long time," Valera muttered as she walked into the lab with the DNA results from the rag. The other three turned to stare at her, wondering if they heard correctly.

"Valera?!" Calleigh half laughed.

"What? She's a self-absorbed slob. That and she's always taking personal days. Anyways, here's the results. It's Paul's rag alright".

"Alright, thanks Val," Calleigh nodded, taking the results.

"Well," the DNA analyst muttered under her breath as she walked out of the room, "she always pissed _me_ off".


	17. Overlapping Time

Thank you for the reviews, HoratioCraver101, vivalavidaa, Duckies, Wolfsong98, daxy, and Padfoot (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, ktrisha, maldelux, lausi_gm, and tbsavafob6 (LiveJournal)

***

And on a slightly unrelated note. I would like to say a special hello to all my readers who are in the republic of Singapore. Within twelve days you have climbed from 21st to 2nd on my "visiting countries" page. Kudos.

***

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Seventeen: Overlapping Time**

Rick stumbled out of the shower, wishing his mind wouldn't be so wont to wander; he was going to be late. Rummaging through Horatio's dresser, he found the drawer that his lover had stashed his clothes.

Dressed, he grabbed some toast and a cup of coffee before he was out the door. In his rush he didn't see the text that Horatio had sent him, mentioning how the serial killer had kept Mac in Miami. He jumped into his red Mercury Milan and started driving.

***

Rick pulled into his parking spot; thankful that he didn't have anyone to call him out on being a few minutes tardy. He stepped out of his car, turning to see a tall man with black hair that he had never seen before. He had a muscular build, so Rick figured him to be new to the police force. Deciding to be polite and start things out on the right foot for once, Stetler nodded hello.

The other man looked up from across the parking garage, their eyes meeting. Within a split second he had pulled a gun out of the waistband of his pants and shot at something just out of Rick's line of sight. The shot itself was silenced, but a scream echoed, rolling over the cars in the garage and rushing past the IAB sergeant. Stetler's body tensed, he only wore Kevlar and carried a weapon when he was called out to an officer involved homicide and he needed to go out on the field. He ducked behind his car and put his hand on the handle, ready to bolt.

"Stetler!" The man yelled, running up to the car.

Rick's heart stopped for just a moment at the sound of his name. He broke into a cold sweat, the keys falling from his hands to the ground. His ears were ringing as he felt around for the keys, bringing himself up to a sprinter's position.

"There's no use in trying to run away," a low voice above him hissed.

Rick looked up, staring into the barrel of a hot and loaded gun. His breath shook as he fell back onto the floor, looking up at the other man.

"Considering I'm in a police station", the other man whispered, "I think that it would be in your best interest to get me out of here as quickly and discreetly as possible".

He cocked the gun, making Rick nod in agreement. He was led into the driver's seat of his own car, the other man sat in the back.

"If you deviate from any of my instructions, I will kill you on the spot. Understand?"

Rick nodded again, his hands trembling as he slipped the key into the ignition.

"Adjust your rear view mirror," the other man ordered, "I want to see you".

Chest heaving and palms sweating, Rick obeyed. His and the attackers eyes met for a brief moment before Rick looked away. With his captor's instructions, he pulled out of the garage and was back on the main streets. Out of the corner of his eye, Rick saw Molly running out of the garage and into MD-PD.

"You should have known better to hurt my girl's feelings, Stetler. (And give me your phone)".

"You're Paul Daemon?" Rick stammered, as he slowly handed his phone to the man in the back seat.

"Correct," Paul smirked at Rick from the back seat, "You're smarter than I thought you would be; considering you upset the girlfriend of a serial killer. You dumbfuck".

Rick had always been careful to keep Horatio off of all portable electronic devices. Just in case they fell into the wrong hands. He tried not to show his relief as the knowledge dawned on him that Paul couldn't make the connection with Horatio.

"What's area code 580?" Paul asked, scrolling though Rick's contacts.

"Kaw City, Oklahoma: my hometown".

"You don't have many Miami numbers on here. Who's Molly Shomer?"

"My assistant".

"And Monica West is…"

"My boss".

"I see. Are you sure that one of these women isn't your girlfriend? (Turn right at the next stop)".

"Quite positive," Rick nodded, following Paul's instructions.

"Don't be so cheeky," Paul advised, "You're just going to make it worse for yourself. I'm already planning on keeping you alive for another day or so".

"That's very generous of you".

"Prepare to be disappointed".

***

After following Paul's instructions for about half an hour, Rick pulled into a used car dealership. The place looked pretty legit, which was what confused him the most.

"Park in the back, and give me the keys before you unlock the door".

Rick did as he was told, surprised to see a tall, muscular man with short blonde hair waiting for them. He motioned them into a small garage in the back of the dealership.

"That's Carl," Paul explained, "you're expected to follow all of his instructions too".

Rick pulled into the garage, parked, pulled out the keys, and handed them to Paul.

"You follow orders better than I thought you would," he noted, letting himself out of the car before he opened the driver's door.

Carl pulled Rick out of the car, throwing him against the wall of the garage and tearing off his jacket. He folded Rick's arms up behind him, rolling up the sleeves and duct taping his forearms and wrists together. Rick was spun around, still pinned against the cold wall. A strip of the tape was put over his mouth before he was led into an adjacent room.

There was a naked bulb hanging from the ceiling, lighting most of the small room. Carl threw Rick into the corner and forced him to sit down on the cold concrete floor.

"This the guy?" Carl asked, his voice droning.

"Yeah, last one," Paul nodded.

"So, what do you need?"

"New car, something fast but not too showy. Stetler's car needs to be repainted; again, nothing too showy, make it part of the crowd. GPS needs to be taken out. I left a phone in there that you need to get rid of. Switch the plates with some SUV or something".

"Anything else?"

"I dunno, let me check," Paul knelt down in front of Rick, tearing the tape off of his mouth, "Hey Stetler, I need to make sure that there is nothing that traces your sorry ass back to my friend's shop. If the cops come poking around here you're going to be responsible for whoever dies, I want you to remember that. Did I forget anything?"

Rick nodded, his chest heaving and his body shaking. "Don't put the plates on another car," Rick gasped, turning his soft brown eyes away, "they're vanity plates. I guarantee you, someone would spot them".

"'Vanity plates'?" Paul echoed, "I don't remember seeing vanity- hey Carl! Go check his plates".

Carl walked back out into the garage, Paul looked Rick over carefully before speaking.

"So you already know you've lost?" He sighed, "You just wish that I won't prolong your agony. Is that right?" Rick nodded, keeping quiet despite the gag's absence. "You are smarter than I gave you credit for. Oh well, I'm a man of my word. I was kind of hoping that I could have some more fun with you. You _are_ my last kill, you know that, right?"

Rick nodded again as Carl came back into the room, a little sheet of paper in his hand.

"What kind of moron do you take me for?" He fumed, picking Rick up by his collar.

"What's wrong?" Paul asked, standing back up.

"'NCC-1701'?! What the hell kind of vanity plate is that?" Carl snapped, roughly pulling Rick close to him, loosening the sergeant's tie and ripping the top button of his shirt with the rough treatment. "What are you trying to pull?"

"It_ is_ a vanity plate!" Rick gasped, looking into Carl's dull green and yellow eyes, "it's the number on the Starship Enterprise, a good chunk of the population could recognize it. If you don't believe me, just enter the numbers into any search engine".

Paul pulled out his cell phone, testing Rick's statement.

"You better not be lying to us," Carl growled, "we don't like having our time wasted".

"400,000 hits," Paul said, looking up from the small screen, "he's fine. You can put him down now".

Rick slid down the wall, his clothes hanging a bit looser over his body. Paul looked down; something about Stetler was catching his eye. He knelt in front of Rick again, lifting his lit phone up near his captive's neck.

"You have a girlfriend," Paul noted, "You neglected to mention her".

"What?" Rick whispered, not quite sure what Paul was driving at or even talking about.

"Don't act like you don't know about the hicky on your neck, Stetler. Now I want to know who gave it to you".

"No!" Rick half-shouted, a little surprised at how defensive he became so quickly.

"What's her name, Stetler?"

Rick shook his head, backing further into the corner.

"Aww… you love her. How cute," Paul sneered, "and how fitting. How would you like to see her cry? Like I had to see Natalia cry because of what _you_ did to _her_". Rick glared into Paul's bright emerald eyes. "Well, Stetler, it looks like you might prove to be some fun after all. Carl, I'll take you up on that car now".

Carl grabbed Rick's arm, dragging him over and putting him in a choke hold. Rick struggled helplessly against the larger man, not sure if he would have even had a chance if his arms were free. Carl took a rag and held it over Rick's mouth and nose, the sweet smell of chloroform on the fabric. In vein, Rick struggled for air, but Carl held him fast.

Paul smirked at Rick, watching his captive's struggles cease and his eyes drift shut.

The blonde let go, leaving Rick's unconscious body to slide to the floor.

"Put more tape on him before he goes in the trunk," Paul ordered, "and grab my bag of 'toys'… this guy looks like he'll be needing them".


	18. Prisoner

Thank you for the reviews, Duckies, BoyyM, Prisca512, HoratioCraver101, Padfoot57, Daxy, and Wolfsong98(FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, lausi_gm, ktrisha, and maldelux (LiveJournal)

***

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Eighteen: Prisoner**

Rick opened his eyes up to near complete darkness. The almost immeasurable amounts of light that came in through the cracks in the trunk made the contours of his prison somewhat visible. His arms ached from being pinned behind him for so long in such a position.

"Horatio?" Rick helplessly called out into the tape that covered his lips, only able to emit a muffled grunt.

Struggling to find his bearings, Rick noted that his legs too were bound. The car was definitely moving, but they were out of the city. It was still day, that was made clear by the faint beams of sunlight that peered in on him.

A tear slid down the side of Rick's face as his imagination began inventing merciless forms of torture that Paul could use on him. He felt sick to his stomach with the images his mind gave him. Rolling over, Rick pressed his forehead against the cold metal of a jack that was kept in the trunk, trying to control his nausea.

_Horatio?_ he thought, _Where are you Horatio? I need you… I love you. I'm sorry I got myself into this. But I don't want him to hurt you. I'll always put your life before mine, H. Oh God… I'll never forgive myself if I let him hurt you._

*******

"We'll put up road blocks. I'll put birds in the air. Just tell me what we need, Mac!" Horatio gasped, his panic attacks coming in waves.

"It's no use, Horatio," Mac sighed, looking out the windows of Horatio's office and down onto the streets. "If Paul Daemon has a brain in his skull, he would have ditched the car by now".

"So what does he want? Money?!" Horatio asked, pacing the room, "I'll give him anything he wants. Anything to get Rick back!"

"Horatio," Mac whispered, grabbing onto the lieutenant's shoulders, "I don't think he's planning to put Rick up for ransom". The redhead let out a shaky breath, his eyes beginning to water again. "Paul doesn't think we know he kidnapped Rick. He thinks he got away with it… and he thinks he's going to get away with murder again". Mac watched as Horatio's hands began to tremble as he fought back tears. "Don't cry, H. I know you're afraid and that things look pretty grim, but you need to stay calm".

"I'll kill myself if I lose him," Horatio whispered, "I know I said it before. But I can't go on having everyone I love being taken from me".

"Horatio? No… no. Please calm down. Think about Kyle. What about Kyle?"

"It's only a matter of time…"

***

"Wake up," Paul growled as he pulled the tape off of Rick's legs, "we're here".

Rick didn't even notice that he had passed out. No matter, he wouldn't have been able to figure out where they were anyways. He looked around, they were in another garage; but it was a smaller one, the kind that is attached to a house.

Carl and Paul yanked Rick out of the trunk, dragging him across the floor, as his legs were too weak to function. There was an old door Paul opened that led into a small hallway of the house. Rick winced as the two men pulled at his bound arms with bruising force. _What do you want from me?_ He struggled to say through the strip of tape over his lips as he was pulled into a sparse kitchen.

Paul opened a door leading to a flight of downward stairs. With a rough tug on Rick's collar, Carl threw his captive's helpless body down the tiled staircase. All sound was muted for the sergeant in his moment of panic. He swung his legs out from under him, trying to regain control of his body. He was able to stop halfway down the stairs, his calves bruised, but things could have been a lot worse. Trying to catch his breath, Rick noticed that he had lost some feeling in his left ankle, the one that slammed into the edge of the first step he came in contact with.

"Interesting," Paul said, walking down towards Rick, "You broke your fall. I've never seen that happen before".

He placed his foot on the side of Stetler's head; giving him a good shove and making him roll down the rest of the stairway. Rick dragged himself across the cold floor of the basement and to the nearest wall. He wasn't about to try to stand, although he was pretty sure he could. He brought his legs up towards the rest of him, wincing in pain.

"He's got some fire in him," Carl grinned.

"Indeed," Paul smirked, walking over and opening a cabinet just out of Rick's line of sight, "This should be an interesting few days".

Rick's chest heaved as he rested in the corner, catching his breath and calming himself down. Carl locked the basement door behind him as he walked down the steps and over to Paul. Daemon was still futzing around with something in the cabinet. The blonde let out a chuckle.

"Where do you even acquire so much chloroform?"

"I have friends," Paul smiled, "and I find it to be quite useful, so I will pay whatever the price".

He turned around to face Stetler, a rag in his hand. Rick shook his head, begging not to be taken out of consciousness again. Paul tore Rick away from the wall, pinning him close to keep him from struggling too much as he gave him the anesthetic. Rick's muffled screams of protest died away and his body rested limp against Paul's chest.

***

Rick wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up; for all he knew, he could have been out for hours. He sat on the floor, his legs swung over to one side and his back up against a post. The tape had been removed from his arms and had been replaced with shackles, closely anchoring him to the pillar. His arms' range of motion was minimal, but better than what the tape had to offer. His feet too were chained to the post. He only had enough slack to stand and sit.

Pressing his tongue against the rubber ball that was secured over his mouth, Rick struggled to loosen the gag that Paul had bound him with. He shook his head violently, hoping that the tight leather straps would stop digging into his skin with the motion.

He carefully maneuvered his hands and body, slipping his fingers up under his dark brown locks, feeling for some sort of buckle or latch. He had never used a ball gag, even before all this happened he would never consider using one on Horatio. They just felt too demeaning to him.

Rick's fingertips slowly ran down the straps, struggling to simply stop the leather from digging into his skin if just for a moment. He had given up the idea of trying to take it off, realizing that even if he succeeded with that, he would still be chained to a post in a basement. He couldn't slip his nails under the straps, it was just too tight and there was nothing he could do about it.

Hearing the doorknob to the basement rattle, Rick slipped his arms back down and away from his head. He tried to compose himself as footfalls came down the steps, hiding the fear that was slowly grasping onto his mind.

"You're awake," Paul smirked, "You didn't want to be put to sleep, did you?" Rick shook his head. "Well don't you worry about that, Stetler. I'm not planning on letting you sleep for a long, long time. In fact, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging for it. And you will never wake up".

Paul had knelt down and was playing with Rick's hair, unnerving his prisoner even more than he already was. He took off Rick's tie and unbuttoned his shirt, pushing the fabric away from the suction mark.

"Who gave it to you?" Paul asked calmly, unfastening the gag. Rick pulled himself out of Paul's grasp, turning his face away. "Answer me!" Paul's hands clutched Rick's shoulders, holding him still and leaving small bruises.

"I'll never tell you," Rick gasped, trying to struggle out of Paul's grip again.

"Answer me!" Paul repeated, slamming Rick's body against the post.

"You son of a bitch!" Rick blurted out.

Paul's green eyes flashed and his nails dug into Rick's shoulders. Rick's eyes dilated in panic, he wanted to cry out for Horatio but knew that he couldn't.

"Say that again?" he hissed angrily.

"I… I'm s-s-so s-sorry. I d-d-d-didn't mean to-"

"You fucking did!" Paul shouted, shaking his prisoner.

"No! P-p-p-please, I-I-I- mmf!" Rick stammered as Paul strapped the gag back on, as tight as it was before.

"You know, Stetler, I thought that you would be _smarter_ than that," Daemon said as he stood up, walking over to the cabinet and rummaging around. "But then, Natalia did mention what a spineless bastard you are, so I'm not really surprised".

He pulled out a pair of scissors and approached Rick, who was struggling helplessly against his binds. Paul cut Rick's shirt open along its sleeves, making it possible for him to pull it off.

"Get up," he ordered.

Carefully, the topless Stetler brought himself to his feet, his left side caving in slightly.

"Look at you," Paul marveled, pulling down the light from the ceiling for a better view, "I thought you were a cop… not a scratch on you".

Rick blushed, he always had been very careful when he was a cop in New York. He hadn't gotten himself into situations where he could be stabbed or shot at, like Horatio did. But then, Horatio didn't have much to lose back then.

Paul grabbed onto Rick's sides and spun him around. He walked along to the other side of the pole and secured his captive's hands above his head. Rick stood there, his body flush against the frigid post, he had no idea what Paul had in store for him.

"What the hell?" Daemon muttered when he saw the scars that lined the underside of Rick's arms and part of his back. "You wanna tell me what did this number on you?"

Rick shook his head, trying to remind himself that Mac is gone and that Horatio will find him soon. Although he suddenly wasn't too sure about either statement.

"No? That's okay. It's not that important".

Tears of fear filled Rick's eyes as he tried to bury his face into his arms. He knew that Paul was going to kill him, he also knew that he was planning on taking his sweet time. Whatever was in store for him, it was going to be long and painful. He just hoped that he didn't slip and cry out his lover's name.

A wave of shock and pain that started in his mid back rippled throughout his body. It knocked the breath right out of him, locking him between the desire to gasp for air or scream. His entire body trembled as the blunt pain set in. Paul had taken a hammer and slammed it into his captive's flesh.

"Do you want to tell me your lover's name now?"

Rick shook his head and was immediately punished, the hammer colliding with his shoulder. His ears were ringing and sweat began to bead all over his body. Paul slammed his weapon into Rick's side, bringing the nauseating feeling of dread back. Rick tensed his body, trying to will away the urge to vomit. The hammer came down on Rick's knotted muscles, shooting intense pain throughout him.

Overwhelmed with sobs, Rick lay limp against the pole as Paul continued to beat him.

_Oh God, Horatio. Where are you?_


	19. Deal with the Devil

Thank you for the reviews, HoratioCraver101, Prisca512, vivalavidaa, Daxy, and Wolfsong98(FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, tbsavafob6, maldeluxx, lausi_gm, and ktrisha (LiveJournal)

***

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Nineteen: Deal With The Devil**

Mac had taken Horatio outside for a smoke, the redhead leaning against the building. Frank peered out his ground floor window; he had rarely seen his friend smoke before, this whole Stetler thing seemed to be eating him up a bit more than it probably should be. The police sergeant shrugged, Horatio must just be under a lot of pressure.

Horatio dragged on the last of his cigarette, digging the butt into the ash can over the garbage. He looked out into the sky, still feeling quite anxious, but now able to concentrate.

"Want another?" Mac asked, holding the box out in offering.

The lieutenant shook his head. "No, thank you," he said softly.

"We both know how to get Rick's location," Detective Taylor sighed, "I know you don't want to do it, but we're running out of options".

"We're not doing it. We can say we are, but I won't go through with it".

"There's no middle ground. It's all or nothing".

"There has to be a better way!"

"Horatio! It's been six hours. We ran all the evidence Paul left us and are coming up dry as to a location. Nobody has seen any trace of Rick's car. There are no leads and no direction and I am positive that there's only one option left".

"There's always evidence! We must have overlooked something!"

"We've _been_ over the garage and the tapes! We've got jack squat!" Mac shouted.

Horatio backed up, not expecting Mac to suddenly get to hostile. The New York detective sighed, slowly approaching the redhead.

"Horatio," he said sternly, "do you want Rick back or not?"

"Of course I want him back, I lov-"

"Then get the fuck back inside and do what needs to be done".

***

Paul sat at his computer, a good two floors away from the bleeding and unconscious Stetler. Daemon left Rick a few minutes ago; he was now playing solitaire to clear his mind.

_Given, it's not like I've never taken a life before._ Paul sighed as he dragged the cards around. _ It's not like the killings have never been personal. But Stetler's different. I've never made anyone suffer before. I never tried to get information out of my victims before they died, just confessions. I don't really want to get Stetler's girlfriend involved, she didn't do anything but have a really shitty boyfriend._

_Call me crazy, but I'm starting to get a little attached to the guy. He has a lot of spirit. That and he must really love that woman he's protecting. Maybe I should just give up on that idea. Nobody knows about it except for him and me. …and Carl. Carl would be upset. But… whatever. I have to ditch him soon enough, he's too dumb to elude to police for too much longer. Natalia and I have to get out of here. Christ, I need to start again. And if Klugmann wasn't here I could have. Damn… I gotta get out of the city._

He looked over at the other side of the desk. Paul's phone had lit up and was apparently attempting to vibrate off of the table. He picked it up, checked the caller ID and smiled to himself.

"Hello, darling," he cooed lovingly into the phone.

"Paul! Are you alright?" Natalia's voice came over the phone.

"I'm fine, Nat. How are you?"

"Just a little pissed off, but I'll be fine. I can't believe that they think you killed those men. It's absolutely ridiculous".

"I'll be okay. But how are you holding up? Your co-workers aren't giving you too much crap, are they?"

"They are, and can you _believe_ that they think that you kidnapped Stetler?"

"Who?"

"Stetler, that asshole I was telling you about".

"Why? Has he vanished?"

"Yes! And they think you're responsible!"

"What? That's harassment! I can't believe the people you work with".

"Neither can I".

"Run away with me, Natalia," Paul said suddenly.

"What? Paul?"

"Please, Nat. This place reminds me too much of New York. We can move together! Go to some nice little suburb outside of… erm… Milwaukee!"

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"I know this place brings back bad memories for you, Natalia. I want you to be happy. That and I can see that you don't like your work very much".

"Paul that's… that's very sweet of you, but I think… I think I need more time".

"Oh. Yeah. Sorry. That's cool. I… I was just thinking about that today".

"It's okay," she giggled, "Where are you now?"

"Now? I'm at my buddy Carl's house".

"I'm not interrupting 'guy time' am I?"

"Heh heh. No. He went outside for a cigarette; you know how his wife doesn't like people smoking indoors".

"Oh. Well… I was just thinking about you. Wanted to make sure you were okay".

"You're sweet".

"Thank you. You want to come over tonight?"

"What? Oh… Nat, not tonight; my boss wants be to work late, and I know you have to get up early. I'm sorry. Tomorrow though, I promise".

"Alright," she said, the pout evident in your voice.

"I have to go now. I love you, Natalia".

"I love you too, Paul".

"I'll see you tomorrow".

"Bye".

Paul hung up and placed the cell phone back on the desk. Natalia was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He knew he could really turn himself around for her. He logged off and wandered down into the kitchen, pulling out a bottle of whisky.

***

Natalia closed her phone and handed it back to sergeant Tripp. She looked sadly up at Mac who nodded patiently at her cooperation. Horatio stood in the doorway, rubbing his temple and trying to will his headache away.

"I've got a location," Ryan called up from the computer, "He's in a residency near the glades".

"Take me there," Horatio said softly; everyone turned, it was the first thing he said to anyone but Mac in over three hours.

Mac walked up to Horatio and whispered softly, "just in case there is an investigation, I'm not letting you go alone. I honestly believe tha-".

"-Hey! What about me?" Natalia called.

"You're free to go," Frank nodded, "Get back to your post".

"But if Rick's not there," Horatio said, stopping her before she could get out, "you're going away for a long, LONG time".

She nodded nervously before she left the holding cell and went back upstairs to the lab. Frank eyed up his friend, something was definitely not right. He hadn't seen Horatio so anxious since Kyle was abducted. He and Horatio hadn't hung out or gone to a game about a month, he wondered what was wrong.

Ryan programmed the coordinates off the computer into his GPS. "Frank and I will go with you two, but we gotta get going now if we want to get to him by sundown".

"Alright," Horatio nodded, trying to fall back into his 'Lieutenant Caine' role, "you go with Frank, Mac and I will be right behind you".

"Actually," Frank piped up, "I think that it would be better for Ryan and Mac to ride together, I have something I want to discuss with-"

"Not now, Frank," Horatio snapped, startling both Sergeant Tripp and Ryan, "we're running out of time. If there's anything of dire importance I expect you to radio me, as always".

Ryan and Mac quickly made their exits before the lieutenant let his temper flare again. Frank grabbed Horatio's arm before he got too far away.

"H, tell me what this is all about. I'm starting to worry about you".

"I'll have no more from you, Sergeant" the redhead growled with an air of authority about him.

Frank fumed followed Horatio to the garage where their Hummers were parked. Ryan and Mac waited patiently, watching Frank try to confront Horatio again.

"What's gotten into you?" Frank snapped, pulling Horatio to a stop.

"Leave me alone," the lieutenant growled, trying to walk away.

"You're not yourself," Tripp added, grasping onto Horatio's arm.

"Shutup, Frank".

"There's something about Stetler you're not telling me".

With his free arm, Horatio slammed his fist into the side of his friend's face. Frank stumbled back into a pillar, clutching at the bruised cheek bone. Mac's face twitched at the memory of the sort of pain that brings. Ryan's jaw dropped, he had never seen Horatio act out like that before… and against Tripp.

Trembling, Horatio looked down at his hand. He couldn't believe that he just let himself hurt Frank; they had been best friends for years. Breathing heavily, Horatio slowly approached Sergeant Tripp.

"Frank?" he whispered, shyly placing a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Frank, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… I don't know what came over me".

"Fuck off, Horatio," Frank murmured, his voice cracking slightly as he joined Ryan at the Hummer.


	20. Flashback

Thank you for the reviews, HoratioCraver101, padfoot57, daxy, and wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, tbsavafob6, maldeluxx, and lausi_gm (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Twenty: Flashback**

Every muscle in Rick's body ached, he was dizzy and weak; a sharp pain came to his sides when he tried to breathe. He let his eyes drift open, still not sure where he was or even what day it was. His legs were pulled up under him, resting on the cold hard floor once again. He pulled helplessly at the chains that bound him to the cold metal post. His wrists were bruised and bleeding, cut by the shackles; so was most of his back. Everything around him was dark and musty, the air was heavy with dread.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember his lover's perfect face.

Rick smiled at the knowledge that Horatio's image had not been forgotten. He could almost see his lover's crystal blue eyes and his brilliant red hair, shining golden in the sunlight. The memories of the other man lying Rick out on the bed were still fresh in his mind, he could almost still feel Horatio in him. And his voice, his low and comforting whisper of a voice, echoed softly in Rick's mind.

"_You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love you, Rick. With all my heart"._

With a flicker of light from the stairway, the memories of Horatio scattered and Rick was brought back to reality. Paul slammed the basement door behind him and started his way down the steps, each footfall echoing against the basement walls.

Paul leaned against the stairs and stared at Rick's helpless body. Rick looked right back, not sure of what his captor was going to do to him next. He walked over to Stetler and pulled off the gag, kneeling down in front of him.

"You know," Paul said drowsily, "maybe it's because I'm drunk, or maybe it's because I think you're fucking pathetic. But I want to talk to you".

"What is it?" Rick asked, trying to sound as timid and non-threatening as possible.

"You're a cop, right?" Stetler nodded. "So you know that I killed two people in the past two days?" He nodded again. "Did you know that I did a number on seven people back in New York?"

"Yes," Rick admitted, "In fact, a detective followed you here".

"You're shitting me".

"I'm in no position to shit you or anyone".

Paul threw back his head and laughed loudly, making Rick very nervous.

"It'll be a shame to do you in, Stetler; now that you've made me laugh".

Rick looked hopefully up at Daemon, although he knew that he couldn't be returned to Horatio.

"But you see… the problem is that… I'm trying to start a new life with Natalia. Get away from the city… Just be with her, out in the suburbs. But you, Stetler, you tried to ruin my plans".

"No," Rick gasped, "No I didn't".

"Yes you did, you little shit, don't lie to me!"

"No! I just said that she couldn't work on a case involving someone she is romantically involved with! It's a conflict of interests that could hurt the whole department".

"You implied that I was just like her ex-husband! I would never hurt her!"

"I… I was frustrated with the case," Rick panicked, "I just snapped… I said I was sorry".

Paul stood up, eyeing up Rick before he moved over to the cabinet. Stetler watched his captor rummage through drawer after drawer, but couldn't see what he retrieved.

"Do you know why I killed all those men?" Paul sighed, pocketing whatever he found and kneeling down in front of Rick again. "You see, when I was a little boy, I was very religious. The church was my second home. I did everything I could to help out and keep it clean and running.

"Then one day, Father Irgens invited me into his office. He told me that I was a very valuable asset to the church, and that he didn't want me to fall into temptation like the other boys. He said that the only way to make sure that I would be saved and would one day find eternal peace was if I gave my mind to the church. I asked how I could do that. He told me to read my bible and to follow its teachings.

"Then he said that I also need to give my soul to the church. I asked how I could do that. He told me that I needed to love God more and any other living thing that walked on the good Lord's green earth. That I should trust that, no matter what happens, the Savior is there with me.

"Finally, he said that I needed to give my body to the church. I told him that I could give my mind and that I had already given my soul, but I didn't know how to give my body. He asked me if I truly wanted to be saved. I said yes. So he went over and locked the door…"

Rick shifted as Paul's eyes glazed over and his voice drifted off. He could see the other man reliving the memory, the terror of a child behind his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Rick whispered gently.

"Back then, nobody really knew that such things were going on in the church," Paul said, "I didn't tell anyone what had happened, except for my friend Orville. He was involved heavily in the church too, as you might guess. Anyways, it wasn't until I was older and tormented by those memories that I knew that the old man had to be brought to justice. But I was too late, he was already dead – heart attack.

"I went to his funeral, I'm not quite sure why, I guess that I needed to see for myself that that bastard was dead and in hell where he belongs. And there I saw Orville and the seven other choir boys of my time, reading eulogies, praising his memory.

"It wasn't fair, it wasn't right. What he took away from me. You can't run away from things like that..." His voice drifted off again, "Do you know… what it's like to be raped?"

Rick looked sadly into Paul's bright green eyes, seeing his past. Seeing that horrible day burned into Daemon's memory, stamped there forever and only being erased with death.

"Yes," Rick said softly.

"What?" Paul hissed, turning his full attention back to Rick, "did you say 'yes'?"

"I did".

"You… fucking… heartless… bastard!" Paul growled, "You're mocking me!"

"Wait! No! I wouldn't mock you! I'm telling the truth!"

"You just don't know when to shut up," Daemon snapped, pulling the thing out of his pocket, "I knew you would pull something like this!"

It was a ring gag. Paul held Rick still as he fastened it into his mouth. Rick struggled against the metal ring that held his mouth open; the leather straps on this one were also far too tight. He looked helplessly up at his captor, fearing that he knew what would happen next.

"You'll know my pain before you die," Paul said with fury as he opened his pants, "I'll _make_ you know".

He grabbed onto fistfuls of Rick's hair before he positioned himself. Closing his eyes and pulling in vein against Paul's grip, Stetler tried to escape the inevitable. He felt Paul's flesh against his lips.

"_No!_" he tried to scream as Daemon advanced.

Slowly, he felt the other man slide over his tongue. Rick's senses were overwhelmed by what was being forced upon him. His body shook as tears slid down from his eyes and over his cheeks, collecting under his chin and dripping onto his chest. Paul thrust hard and fast into his captive's throat, forcing the other man to choke. Paul smiled to himself, enjoying the feeling of Stetler's mouth a bit more than he could have expected.

Rick was having a difficult time breathing as Paul forced himself down his throat. The pain in his side was nothing short of crippling. He trembled, his lungs begging for air. His weak limbs pulled at the binds that held him down and cut into his skin, blood dripped down from the gashes and painted his skin a deep red. It was far too much. He couldn't breathe. Left with no other option, his eyes drifted shut, he relaxed his throat, and started working his captor over with his tongue. Rick knew that this wasn't going to end until Paul was able to cum down his throat.

"Oh fuck!" Paul gasped, feeling Rick's tongue stroke him, "your girlfriend do that to you?"

Rick couldn't hear him, the tears building up behind his eyes and sliding down his moist cheeks were nearly deafening. Paul thrust wildly into Rick's mouth, knowing he wouldn't last long with what the other man was doing to him. He swore loudly as he came, forcing Rick to swallow him down.

A few moments passed before Paul let himself slip out of Rick's mouth, tucking himself back in. The IAB sergeant gasped for air, hurting his cracked ribs and still struggling against the ring gag. He wanted to cry, to scream for Horatio, but he had to stay silent. Paul knelt down in front of Rick, their eyes meeting. Daemon leaned in, his fingers lacing in Rick's short dark brown hair, and slid his tongue into Stetler's mouth.

Rick's eyes widened as he felt the tip of Paul's tongue slip over every surface. Threateningly, he dug his nails into Rick's shoulder, in a sort of silent command to give him the pleasure he wanted. Stetler tangled their tongues obediently, feeling Paul moan into his mouth. The cringe swept over his entire body, tensing his already bruised and tight muscles.

Daemon pulled away after a few moments, looking into Rick's watering eyes.

"You have a very talented tongue, did anyone ever tell you that," Paul mused as he removed the gag.

"I can't recall," Rick whispered, turning his face away.

"I should keep you around in case Natalia doesn't feel like putting out," the green eyed man laughed.

Rick absently played with the idea, knowing that if Horatio was given enough time that he would find him. Paul seemed to get more pleasure out of what just happened than he did beating him, perhaps he can hold on for another day or so.

"Hey, you know what Natalia won't let me do to her?" Paul blurted out, draining the color from Rick's face, "Get up and turn around, Stetler. I haven't done this in years".

Paul grabbed the chains that held Stetler's wrists to the post, lifting them up and locking them above his head. Rick stood with his chest pressed against the pole again, moaning in pain and fearing that he knew all too well what was soon to come.

"Don't do this," Rick gasped, feeling his belt get pulled off his body, "please don't do this".

"It won't be that bad," Paul grunted, opening Rick's pants and shuffling them off his hips, "Don't worry about being scarred for life, you don't have that long anyways".

It wasn't long before Rick was standing naked against the post and feeling Daemon position himself behind him. Stetler was unable to suppress a low and terrifying sound, something lost between a scream and a sob, as Paul shoved himself in. The loosened sensation quickly made everything clear to the kidnapper.

"You're gay?!"

"Yes," Rick grunted, turning his hips in attempt to force Paul out of him as tears flooded his eyes again.

"Ha!" Paul laughed at his own blindness, "so who's your boyfriend?"

"I'm still not telling you," Rick said with a soft yelp as he felt Paul's fingers wrap around his cock.

"You'll slip," Paul smirked, "I bet I can make you scream his name".

"No!"

Paul played rough, experimenting with Rick's body. Confronted with cuts and bruises, Rick continued to fight against his restraints. His eyes filled with tears as Mac's voice came back to him.

_I don't want to fuck you… I just want to see you in pain._

He whimpered helplessly, knowing that this was a fight he couldn't win. His nightmare was turning into a reality. He was in incredible pain and Horatio couldn't save him. A feeling of claustrophobia consumed Rick's mind. His body fought in a state of panic, needing to free himself no matter how much it hurt.

But he was still restrained, between the chains, Paul, and the crippling pain in his side, Rick could hardly move. Quiet tears turned into loud sobs. He didn't feel Paul behind him, he felt Mac; Mac and his cold sharpened blade against the back of his neck. Mac wanted to take Horatio away from him. He probably arranged this whole thing. Rick was being driven mad; he could hardly think he was so full of fear.

"No!" Rick screamed, his choked voice cutting above every other sound in the house, "No, Mac! Stop!"


	21. Voices

Thank you for the reviews, HoratioCraver101, Daxy, and Wolfsong98(FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews, st_mj, tbsavafob6, maldeluxx, lausi_gm, and ktrisha (LiveJournal)

***

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

**Chapter Twenty-One: Voices**

Stetler's wrists, caked with dried blood, were cuffed above his head. His naked and beaten body rested against the cold post in Paul's basement. His face was wet with tears and his throat and ribs hurt from screaming. He sobbed lightly, Daemon thrusting into his weakened body one last time before he pulled out.

"Mmm," Paul breathed against the back of Rick's neck, "I almost forgot how good that feels".

He tucked himself back into his pants, walking around the post to see Rick's tear streaked face. He brought their lips together, pressing the palm of his hand against Stetler's cheek, ordering the other man to open his mouth. Another tear fell as Rick obeyed, cringing at the sensation of Paul rubbing their tongues together.

"So," Daemon sighed, breaking the kiss, "'Mac', eh'?"

Rick turned away, not wanting to be reminded any more of what Detective Taylor had done to him. He didn't know what Paul was talking about, all he could want at that moment was to be taken out of consciousness.

"Peculiar name, I should be quick to find him," Paul grinned. "And you, I really don't need you talking anymore," he said as he secured the ball gag back to Rick's mouth.

He didn't even struggle as the straps cut into him again. He rested his forehead against the pole, hoping that Paul wouldn't notice if he blacks out just for a few moments.

"Shit, you give up easy," Paul griped, his footfalls fading as he neared the steps, "Whatever, I'll be back in an hour or so".

Rick listened to his abductor ascend the stairs, open and then close the door. There was no point in struggling anymore, every cell in his body ached. He was getting dizzy from only being able to take in shallow breaths. Within minutes of Paul's exit, Rick slowly rolled back his head and slipped out of consciousness.

***

"Miami-Dade Police, open up!" a voice above Rick shouted, pulling him awake.

He looked around, wondering if Paul had come back downstairs; he hadn't. The walls and ceiling made it nearly impossible to distinguish voices, and only shouting ones were completely audible, but Stetler tried to listen nevertheless.

"Kick down the goddamn-"

A hard and slightly metallic thud echoed throughout the house. Footsteps scattered throughout the house, some nearing the basement door. He wanted to cry out and rattle his chains, but Rick could barely move. Every muscle in his body ached and felt so heavy, it was difficult for him to even keep his head up and eyes open.

"Paul Daemon?" a voice from the top of the stairs asked. There was no response, or else Rick just couldn't hear it. "You're under arrest for the abduction of Sgt. Rick Stetler, the murder of Daniel Nowest and Rev. Orville Klugman in Miami, and the murder of seven others in New York".

The sounds of a short scuffle filled the house; someone was thrown against the door a few times. There were more footsteps originating from several other directions, all running towards the basement door.

A crash.

A shout

A gunshot.

Silence.

Rick looked up at the ceiling, finding himself wishing that Horatio wasn't there. If his lover died trying to save him, he would never forgive himself. Horrible visions of looking down upon the redhead in a casket haunted his mind. Rick tried to shake them away, but it was no use; all he could see was Horatio's lifeless body.

_And it would be all your fault_.

There were more footfalls, several walking in one direction, and one pair walking in the opposite. The basement door was opened, someone was walking down to him. He was too weak to turn his head; he was just going to have to hope that whoever it was spoke soon.

"Oh dear God," he heard Mac's rough voice gasp.

Rick was helpless, he couldn't move as the man who had tormented his mind slowly approached. He felt Mac's calloused hand touch his shoulder and his muscles tensed, wishing he could pull away.

"Rick?" Detective Taylor whispered as he circled the broken man, facing him.

His eyes widened as he saw the gag that muted Rick and what it implied Paul had done to him. He reached out two fingers and lightly pressed them against Rick's neck, feeling for a pulse. The sergeant's eyes fluttered open, looking defeated into Mac's grey irises.

"You're alive?" he gasped, quite surprised. He reached up towards the straps that held the ball in place, "here, let me get that".

Despite the pain he was in, Rick tore his face away from Mac's fingers, cringing afterwards with a tear and a soft whimper.

"Alright," Mac nodded, backing up slowly, "alright, Rick. I'll get Horatio".

He darted out of Rick's line of sight, his footsteps running across the room and up the steps. Rick tried to take a deep breath, but the shooting pain made it very difficult. He couldn't think clearly, his arms were numb. He was completely at the mercy of those who handled him.

"Rick?" Horatio's gentle voice whispered, the only sound in the now silent house. Horatio's footfalls approached, stopping halfway through the room. "Rick?" he said again, this time his voice shaking slightly.

Suddenly, right before him, stood Rick's lover; tears filling his sky blue eyes. Horatio looked over Rick's body, wishing he could just hold him and make everything all better. He reached up and took off the gag.

"Horatio," Rick whispered, almost inaudibly.

The lieutenant knelt down, pulling a key out of his pocket and freed Rick's ankles. He stood up to release the chains holding his lover's wrists, but Rick stopped him.

"Wait," he gasped, "I can't stand. I'll fall if you unlock those".

"I'll catch you".

Horatio slipped his hand behind Rick's neck and gently held him against the pole.

"Does it hurt when I do that?"

"No".

Cautiously, the redhead reached up and unlocked the cuffs. Rick grunted as a sharp pain shot through his body as his arms began to fall. Horatio moved swiftly, taking Rick's arms and gently lowering him to the floor.

"Sit me up," Rick grunted, his side aching as Horatio guided him to the ground.

"Where is it the worst?"

"My side, my right side, right here- ow!" He tried to point to his ribs but could hardly move his arms without feeling a sharp sting, "Fuck!"

Horatio looked sadly down at his lover. Rick was sobbing, he had never been so frustrated in his life. He just wanted to hold and talk to Horatio, but he couldn't even do that. There was nothing that he hated more than looking and feeling helpless, especially in front of someone who means so much to him.

"Shh," the redhead whispered, "I'm here. They've called an ambulance; you're going to be okay".

He stroked Rick's cheek lovingly, cradling him. After quickly checking over his shoulder to see that they were alone, he leaned down and brushed his lips over his lover's.

"I was afraid that I had lost you," Horatio whispered against Rick's skin, "You're everything to me, Rick. I love you; I know I say that a lot, but I always mean it. I love you".

"Horatio, I-" Rick gasped, only to be cut off by Ryan opening the basement door.

"The EMTs are here-" Ryan called down, suddenly seeing Rick's bloodied and beaten body, "oh God".

***

Horatio backed away and watched as the paramedics strapped his lover to the gurney and carried him off. Ryan stood by his boss' side, placing his hand on Horatio's shoulder.

"Poor Stetler. You going to be okay, H?"

"I should be fine," he sighed, "This… this just stressed me out".

"We all have our days," Ryan shrugged, still having no idea of what was really going on in Horatio's mind.

"Listen, can you process this scene? I really just need to lie down".

"Oh, sure H. I understand".

"Did Frank leave already?"

"Yeah, he and Mac left with Paul right after you went to search for Stetler".

"Oh… because I kinda wanted to apologize for-"

"-don't worry. He'll forgive you, I know it".

"Yeah..." Horatio sighed, hoping his colleague was right, "You don't think Mac was too shaken?"

"I bet he gets shot at everyday, I'm sure he's fine".

"I hope so," Horatio sighed, "I'll call Eric down here. Some local cops are here to guard you and keep you company, okay. I have to get going".

"I understand," Ryan nodded, watching Horatio swiftly walk out of the basement.

Snapping on his latex gloves, Ryan looked around. The blood, the chains, the post, the hammer, the gags, the discarded duct tape… the story played out for him. A shiver traveled down his spine, he could never wish this on anyone.

***

Mac walked into Horatio's office, watching the lieutenant slowly arrange his files and pack up. He had never seen Horatio so tired, he looked like he had aged years since that morning.

"Go home, Horatio," Mac smiled, "You need rest".

"Mac," he sighed, "I can't thank you enough. I couldn't think straight… I mean… if it weren't for you then we might have lost him".

"You two are very lucky to have each other", Detective Taylor said, "not everyone can have a relationship like yours". Horatio gave Mac a weak smile. "And… I know that there are things I have done to… to both of you that are just… well… unforgiveable. And… and 'sorry' just isn't enough, I know. But I… I hope that maybe one day the three of us could meet up, just talk sometime. That is, if Rick could ever be comfortable with it".

"I'll bring it up," Horatio nodded.

"Thanks".

The two men looked at each other, acknowledging the strange friendship they still had after all that had happened.

"Well," Mac sighed, "I have to get back to my city. I'm getting a little homesick".

"I'll walk you out," Horatio offered, "I'm going to go check up on Rick in the hospital before I go home".

"You're a good man, Lieutenant," the New York detective smiled, "I hope Rick appreciates how lucky he is".


	22. Slightly Over Two Weeks Later

Thank you for the reviews BoyyM, HoratioCraver101,daxy and Wolfsong98 (FanFiction)

Thank you for the reviews lausi_gm, maldeluxx, and ktrisha (LiveJournal)

I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.

***

Warning: this chapter contains material intended only for mature audiences… erm… more so than the other chapters.

***

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Slightly Over Two Weeks Later**

Rick pulled his red Mercury Milan into the driveway of his West Miami home. He smiled to himself as he stepped out of the car, running his hand over the crimson finish. It had been slightly over two weeks since he had last driven it, and that was with a gun pointed to his head. He was lucky that Eric was able to recover it, just before it was about to be repainted too. Carl had been arrested for being an accomplice to kidnapping; his garage had been shut down.

Opening the backseat, Rick pulled out a good sized bag full of presents. It was his first day back at IAB since his abduction and people had been popping in and out of his office all day long, showering him with food and gifts. A surprisingly large number of these people were from the CSI labs, in fact, the only person from Horatio's team that didn't give him anything was Natalia. Rick was perfectly fine with that.

He brought the bag and his briefcase into his home, dropping them all in the middle of the living room. Sitting down on the floor, like a little boy on Christmas day, he began opening them. Chocolates, homemade cookies, an ugly tie (Valera)… he had never felt so loved by so many in years. Only one person could have made him happier, but he urged Horatio to take a personal day so he wouldn't be too distracted; after all, there was a lot of work to catch up on. It's not like he hadn't seen his lover since his rescue; Horatio had been at his side when he was in the hospital, kissing and nuzzling him, urging a faster recovery. When Rick had been stuck in his bed for the most of his time off, Horatio had visited and cooked for him every day.

Rick dumped the food on the dining room table and threw away the wrappings. Grinning at Valera's humor, he picked up the hideous tie and made his way upstairs to store it properly. However, it never made it to the tie drawer. It kinda just dropped once Rick took a single step into his bedroom.

He had left his room a mess; cans of soda, dirty dishes, books, magazines, and sheet music littered the bed and the floor. But now everything was clean and picked up. Candles sat on every flat and stable surface, giving the room an ethereal glow. Soft music was playing from the speakers in the corner, the gentle chords and sweet harmonies dancing on the breeze coming from the window. And in the middle of it all was Horatio, lying nude in the middle of Rick's bed, looking over at him longingly.

"_Baby, when I think about you," _sang the sound system, _"I think about love…"_

"Horatio?" Rick whispered, almost at a complete loss of breath as he closed the door behind him.

"Rick," the redhead sighed, sliding off the bed and approaching his lover.

It had felt like forever since Rick had last seen Horatio like this. Horatio had refrained from making any sexual advances, wanting to be careful not to open any physical or psychological scars. But it felt now that enough time had passed. Stetler reached out and pulled the redheaded lieutenant in towards him. Rick's hands wandered over Horatio's warm, bare body; lovingly taking in every mound and every dip in his flawless form.

"I love you," Rick whispered into Horatio's neck, kissing and nipping at his pale skin.

"Rick… Rick…" the lieutenant gasped, turning his head to capture his lover's mouth.

The kiss quickly grew heated, Rick unbuttoning his shirt as Horatio maneuvered them towards the bed. The redhead reached down and pulled off Stetler's belt, throwing it across the room and pulling open his pants. In the blink of an eye, the two men had had tangled their limbs on the mattress, quickly relearning every inch of each other's bodies.

Stetler reached over into his nightstand, pulling open the drawer and removing a bottle of lube. Horatio lay on his back and rolled his hips, presenting himself to his lover. Rick quietly shook his head and flipped Horatio over, the redhead propping himself up on his elbows and gasping as he felt the brown eyed man slip a finger into his wanting body.

"Yes," Horatio moaned, pushing against Rick's finger, trying to take it deeper.

"So tight," Rick sighed as he leaned down and kissed up his lover's back.

He slipped in a second finger, making Horatio moan softly and rock his hips against him. The sensuous noises that escaped the redhead's lips as Rick pumped and scissored him drove Rick wild. He lightly stroked himself as he watched Horatio's warm body writhe in want and bead with sweat.

Rick gave his throbbing cock a liberal coat of lube before he removed his fingers and slowly pushed himself into Horatio's tight core. The redhead arched his back, moaning softly at the familiar sensation of his lover filling him.

Rick leaned down, resting his chest against Horatio's back, bringing their bodies flush together. He gave his lover a moment to adjust before he began sucking on the redhead's neck and trusting lightly into his body. Horatio grunted quietly, clenching the sheets in his fists as he felt Rick nip across his shoulders.

The two men set their rhythm to the music filling the room, the bed creaking to their movements. Horatio dug his knees into the mattress, pressing himself against Rick's hard and thick cock. What his lover was doing felt amazing, but he needed something a little harder, a little rougher.

Taking the hint, Rick kissed and licked his way off Horatio's back, sitting upright and thrusting deep into his lover's heat. He reached over and rearranged the pillows on the bed, propping them all up against the cast iron headboard. Rick sat up against the wall of pillows he made, dragging Horatio over with him. He adjusted their bodies just slightly and impaled the redhead on his throbbing hardness.

Horatio cried out in pleasure as he felt Rick bury himself up to the hilt inside of him. He was silenced only by Rick's gentle kisses to his neck. Horatio rested his back against his lover's chest; his hands were guided over their shoulders and onto the bars of the slightly exposed headboard. He grasped onto the cold iron bars, his muscles flexing lightly as his grip tightened with Rick's gentle thrust as the music changed.

"_Well, I've never been to Spain,"_ the speakers hummed, _"But I kind of like the music…"_

Horatio moaned as Rick built their already warm bodies up with the slow crescendo. Rick's solid hands ran over Horatio's heated flesh, stroking him lovingly. The redhead panted and pulled on the bars as their legs tangled beneath them.

Finally, Rick brushed his hands teasingly down Horatio's sweet body, grabbing onto his shaft. Horatio moaned in want as he was finally stroked where he needed it most. His heels scrambled for purchase on the sheets, he gasped frantically as Rick's lips locked onto his neck and sucked gently.

Stetler's thrusts grew erratic as he felt himself teeter on the edge. He roughly pumped the redhead's cock, wanting them to cum together.

"Oh Rick…" Horatio moaned as his lover pushed him that extra step over the edge, "Oh God, Rick! Fuck. Fuck! RICK!"

The redhead was seeing stars as he finally spilled his seed all over his chest and stomach, gasping with pleasure. Stetler bit down onto Horatio's shoulder as he came hard into his perfect and sensuous body. The two of them panted roughly as their muscles gave out, Horatio's trembling hands dropping to his sides. The music softly faded away into silence, leaving the two men with only the sound of their own heavy breathing.

Rick slowly removed his teeth from Horatio's shoulder, kissing gently at the little dents they left. Horatio slowly lifted himself off of Rick's spent cock, stumbled into the master bath, grabbing towels to clean them off. He cleaned up and Rick watched through tired and half lidded eyes. The redhead tossed the towels back into the bathroom and climbed back onto the bed beside his lover.

"I can't believe you just cleaned us up with my best towels," Rick groaned quietly in jest, rubbing his temple.

Horatio chuckled as Rick pulled their bodies together, "I love you too, Rick".

"Well, you have a strange way of showing it," Rick smirked as he lightly pecked Horatio on the cheek.

The redhead propped himself up on his elbow and sighed as he ran his fingers through Rick's short brown hair, "I don't know what I would have done if I had lost you".

"You'll never lose me… at least… never completely. I'll always love you, you know that".

"I don't want to be alone".

"You're a good man, Horatio Caine. You will never be alone for long. There will always be someone there to hold you in their heart. I promise you that".

"Don't talk like that".

"Like what?"

"Like you're going to die".

Rick sat up and pulled Horatio into an embrace, cuddling him gently.

"Me? Die?" Rick purred soothingly to Horatio, "And leave you here like this?"

Horatio nodded and shrugged. He had already lost so many whom he loved so deeply. And given his profession and recent chains of events, he was afraid that Rick would be next. Horatio was still afraid that perhaps he was just fated to be alone for the rest of his life.

Rick gently nuzzled up against his lover's soft red hair and whispered one word.

"Never".

***

Music credits:

"Feel Like Makin' Love" – Bad Company

"Never Been To Spain" – Three Dog Night

***

FIN


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